technologyconnections / A rough draft of a rough video. But I feel like I need to make it.

The short-short version (not exactly but made me think of it): https://youtu.be/7R-rKYhKS_Q?si=LNLV764Bfys2cxM0

Paul

2025-02-27 19:31:38 +0000 UTC

Wow this video turned out fantastic. I only saw a few min of the sketch. My respects on how you toned down the character. I myself think the reason for ai is the evasion of responsibility. I've been working for Corp too long, seen the decline of leadership

Raul Ramos

2025-02-23 13:42:44 +0000 UTC

I wonder if the 2.8% of views coming from subscriptions includes those subscribers that open YouTube (or the app) and see your new video at the top of their feed. I for one am guilty of simply clicking that if I want to see one of your new creations and it’s right there in front of me already. In other words: even though I’m a subscriber and use that feature a lot I do sometimes click on videos by creators I am subscribed to in the feed if they happen to be right there in front of me when I launch the app.

Martin Jungowski

2025-02-22 15:18:29 +0000 UTC

I think television also plays a major role. You can be online all the time and still be worldly. I only get my news from memes or the comment sections of completely unrelated topics. I stopped watching television and consuming mainstream news and media in 2016 and since then my life has improved in every measurable way. All it was doing before was making me feel angry and hateful as I washed the quality of contact get worse and worse, then after Trump became president on the flip of a dime (I watched this all unfold live on CNN) their propaganda campaign became too obvious and cringe worthy to ignore (even from that other network that pretended to like him), so I just stopped (I don't know how to explain it, felt like that pillar of salt thing from Sodom and Gomorrah) and it was the best decision I've ever made. I even own a home now. Now the TV-watcher-people seem to me like they're all in a cult and don't realize it. I feel hopeful about the future, even more so now.

Benjamin Tarr

2025-02-22 01:18:43 +0000 UTC

I like this video, i think it's thought provoking and should be released, even though I don't agree with everything you said. Not everything curated by human beings is necessarily good and those humans can be bad actors. Terrible media existed since forever. How old are tabloids, again? We are curious and problem solvers, but it's gaussian curve and we are also lazy. And in the end, AI amalgamating everything together might be just the end of thousands year long process of globalization, what is entirely different rant. What I see as a biggest problem in the video is... I think all the topics you mentioned don't form such a nice story arc as your videos usually do. Also, you can RSS youtube channels!

M@trixX

2025-02-21 22:46:27 +0000 UTC

I think you nailed it for sure. It may not be as interesting as the refrigeration cycle, but it is a great way of explaining how the internet generally works now.

eaglebeagle

2025-02-21 21:57:11 +0000 UTC

This echoes a lot of my feelings about social media and Internet "gathering places", but it clarifies those positions far better than I every had in my own mind. I was particularly taken by your point about how following a lot of people on a platform means you get LESS of what you are actually interested in. This will definitely shape how I use these platforms going forward. I definitely think it would be valuable to post to the wider audience!

Jeffrey Hirschman

2025-02-21 21:21:23 +0000 UTC

“ I don’t think this video will upset any group of people” You may be underestimating people’s capacity to want to be upset at something. Overall, I think this is a good video with a good message. You likely won’t see the same viewership or engagement as your other videos. While all your videos are informative, this one doesn’t have the same entertainment value. As a Canadian, I appreciate you pointing out the danger of normalizing such egregious ideas. Honestly, I didn’t really enjoy this one as much as most of your work, but I don’t think you were really trying to make this enjoyed. If/when you put it to the main channel, I’ll like and comment to help boost engagement, but it’s not one that I will likely watch again.

Michael Friesen

2025-02-21 21:19:15 +0000 UTC

This was a very, very good video. Thank you for that! I think technology, or better the companys providing it, are more and more creating solutions in search for problems. And to get aware of that and thinking about is absolutely necesseary...

DPHI

2025-02-21 20:53:11 +0000 UTC

Let's be real; the root of this issue is deeply philosophical and probably as old as time. It is just manifesting in different ways in 2025. That being said, I think it's important for you to post your honest thoughts on the matter, since we all share a responsibility in combating this...complex?... with real human interaction.

Logan Nagel

2025-02-21 20:41:51 +0000 UTC

Oh, you mean the feed that is called "Abos" on the German version? Yup, I use that all the time. I actually do want occasional input from "The Algorithm" as well though, as that helps discover new stuff. Just following the same set of channels (which fluctuate into and out of favour) can get boring.

Martin Ibert

2025-02-21 20:10:23 +0000 UTC

Dude. You hope I learned this stuff in school? Fat chance. I am 58 years old (and a half, and two days). Probably quite a few years older than you are. I did not learn any of this stuff in school. But I have always been hungry to try out new stuff. You can learn new skills after you leave school.

Martin Ibert

2025-02-21 19:44:11 +0000 UTC

I see no reason to hold this excellent video back. Thank you.

Yanchep

2025-02-21 19:39:54 +0000 UTC

But after that, I progressed pretty much as Alec did. I looked at Google Image Search results for "Silverstone "[sic!]" vintage AM radio" and found the exact same image that Alec shows us.

Martin Ibert

2025-02-21 19:38:42 +0000 UTC

First problem: I read it as "Silverstone". not "Silvertone".

Martin Ibert

2025-02-21 19:28:32 +0000 UTC

And of course I paused the video at around 3:00.

Martin Ibert

2025-02-21 19:26:23 +0000 UTC

Okay, it took me way more than a minute to find that this thing is Silverstone Model 18 Table Radio, but from there, I think I got all the other information relatively quickly. Altogether a 15-minute job or so. Silverstone is not a brand I have ever heard of. I have never seen such a thing in my life. I had to start from zero. Maybe it's different when you grew up in the US and have seen these things in your grandparents' houses. EDIT: Watching more of the video, I realize I am an idiot for not noticing that it is "Silvertone" (one "s"), not "Silverstone" (two "s").

Martin Ibert

2025-02-21 19:25:12 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the video, I really liked it! I can relate, since I feel very similar about this, but it is very hard to explain. I hardly use AI, even not at work (yes, we are working on that whole discover diseases early, treat them better etc. stuff), and in a lot of things I am still old-school: music I listen to using analog media (mostly records and tapes), YouTube, well, I prefer it that people like you just put it on Patreon first, I don't have the time to watch much more than what is on Patreon. One of the things I am concerned about: these algorithms push you into a certain direction, you start believing things that are not true, just because you get pushed to more content that approves of your false believe. And that I think is dangerous.

MrHammond

2025-02-21 19:04:34 +0000 UTC

I came back here to say: Ever since watching this video I've bookmarked the youtube subscriptions page instead of the home page and I'm already changing some of my subscriptions - I think you've touched on agency in what we see in a really good way. Thanks Alec,

yourbadvibes

2025-02-21 18:51:32 +0000 UTC

I'm doubtful that the guy who admires and explains obsolete technology is going to be very successful in persuading people to not embrace new technological innovations. Video on vinyl is cool, but I don't want to go back to that.

Chris B

2025-02-21 18:49:19 +0000 UTC

Tangential to your main point, but on the navigation issue we have to give credit where it's due, Google Maps for the past few years has offered alternate routes and identifes the most fuel-efficient one with a leaf icon. There's also an option in the settings to prefer those routes when the times are similar. It's only on the app version, not the web version, but that's a different rant. But then again, that's still just two criteria, time and fuel efficiency. What I often want is the least-stressful route - the scenic river road instead of the freeway, for instance. There's no checkbox for that.

John Vestrum

2025-02-21 18:40:03 +0000 UTC

If the ask is should you post it, I say go for it. If the ask is related to my thoughts on how it would be received, or if it will do any good, I'm less sanguine. You appear to be intentionally trying to avoid using the phrase 'critical thinking skills', which is probably good, as I don't think that concept is well understood and using the phrase seems to make people defensive.

Nick

2025-02-21 16:12:46 +0000 UTC

You're not wrong about any of it. I hope getting it off your chest has helped. The thing is the world is full of people of different skills, interests and abilities. All we can do is the best we can do and surround ourselves as much as possible with people of like-mindedness. Keep up the interest in the things that interest you. You are a great explainer and teacher and I'm glad I found your content. As for what you said about the subscriptions feature on YouTube, I use it when I know I want to see more of content that I've enjoyed in the past. The recommendation engine often recommends stuff that I would not have known about otherwise. Ps. I hate the shorts!

Conradical

2025-02-21 14:59:58 +0000 UTC

You've managed to put into very eloquent words what has been on my mind for months now. Thanks.

Ion Ambrinoc

2025-02-21 13:25:24 +0000 UTC

Exactly! Being neutral and being objective are not the same. News media try to be neutral, and thus sacrifice their objectivity by propagating/platforming bullshit when one side of a debate doesn't care for truth.

Šuppiluliuma

2025-02-21 13:17:29 +0000 UTC

YES! I made the 3%... I have been using Bookmarks since I started with YT many years ago. It's my new TV Channel. Awesome video - I'd let it fly!

Richard Thompson

2025-02-21 11:20:00 +0000 UTC

One thing that has surprised me for a while is how often people who seem to hate EVs comment on EV conversion Facebook posts, complaining that they are rubbish and don't want soul-less appliances shoved down their throats. They tend to get a lot of replies telling them not to read posts from an EV conversion company. When people see something that doesn't interest them, they keep scrolling, yet if they see something which they disapprove or dislike, That is actually a type of interest, and they they feel obliged to interact. They algorithms don't care between like and dislike, it's all just engagement, and so the angry ranty man will get more EV posts in his feed to the point where they are being force-fed posts on something that annoys them. I've spent the last month actively selecting "Not Interested" followed by "Hide all from Insert Name Here" on everything in my Facebook feed that either I 'd rather not see. It does actually work, and there is now nothing in the feed that annoys me. Even most of the new suggestions are pretty good. However, that does mean I have created my own little echo chamber that supports my existing opinions, which is the other big downside of the internet these days.

DrumBrakes

2025-02-21 10:57:05 +0000 UTC

The problem I think is that the ones you try to wake up are the ones that don’t have the attention span to actually listen to what you’re trying to convey. And also, to put it bluntly, escalating with Canada (although I absolutely and wholeheartedly agree) will push exactly this crowd in full-blown defensive mode. Essentially what you’re doing is preaching to the choir, although you did provide food for thought and I thank you for that. And this as an EU resident’s absolutely political view: I am very sorry for the current state of your once respectable country. It’s going to get a lot worse (for all of us) before it is over. As a nation, you do deserve all the s—t you’re going to get, but there are a whole lot of intelligent and caring people such as yourself in the US and I do feel tremendously sorry for you. I would like to say that this too will pass, but I’m not so sure. If you still have free elections 2 years from now then perhaps there’s hope left, but I worry this will not be the case. Protect your integrity. I’d like to say to stay safe, but that would probably mean compromising that very same integrity.

Joonas Joensuu

2025-02-21 10:39:46 +0000 UTC

These are great thoughts very well expressed and organized while still being respectful of others I think. I would have never been able to express them as clearly as you did and like many here, I fully support you posting that video. It's great.

PAC

2025-02-21 09:50:37 +0000 UTC

Excellent video. I unfortunately think changing people's behavior require changing people's nature. Homo Sapiens is curious and like a good scandal. So even if they know it's clickbait they click anyway, just to get that little high of the reveal. And Homo Sapiens is, inherently, lazy. And many can't, or don't care to, understand the tools they are using. So their critical sense is numbed, and they drive into the ocean "because the GPS said so". I don't know how to change that. Short of better and earlier education on the topic (and good luck with that in this country), how do you make people better at, or even interested in, critical thinking (the healthy kind, not the "experts are all corrupt elitists, and I've done my own research" nut-job kind)? So, while your video perhaps doesn't end up changing many minds, in the big "is the world better with or without it" scheme of things the world is clearly better with it, and I applaud you for making it.

Thomas Larsen

2025-02-21 06:16:09 +0000 UTC

I like this video a lot and I definitely think you should post it. Some b-roll and editing to make it more easily sharable would be great. Some thoughts I had when watching 1) one of my favorite (underrated) features of Bluesky is the "Quiet Posters" tab you can opt into. It makes catching up so much less stressful because I can quickly check if my quieter friends got drowned out by the days news. Watching a sports match or live event with Bluesky or other text based service is the best version of the experience but it tends to drown out other posters if you are following more than 100 accounts. 2) A while ago I disabled watch history on youtube and I cannot recommend it enough. It forces yourself to engage through the subscriptions feed (Hi I'm one of the 3% when I'm not coming through Patreon), because it disables the recommendation algorithm on the home page. It still allows recommendations based on what you are currently watching so I still stumble across cool videos related to my interests lots of the time though. 3) If you like driving to see your neighbors, I sincerely implore you to explore public transit if it is at all an option (and I'd encourage everyone to not immediately dismiss the idea, it's often closer to real than you think!). I'm a daily bus commuter, and while it takes me a little more time to get to work (40 minutes instead of 15) I spend that time doing things I like (playing video games or reading or listening to music without distractions) and I get to truly know my neighborhood and see how the city around me changes. The few days I sometimes am forced to car commute are much more chaotic, and I end up just speeding by the places I know well because of my bus commute.

Samuel Fout

2025-02-21 06:01:34 +0000 UTC

I like it but probably could use some additional editing imo maybe like 10%. Overall I agree with you although I do always look at the Google Maps route before clicking navigate at the very least..... Also so much "AI" is just underpaid workers doing it!

Ilana

2025-02-21 05:22:09 +0000 UTC

Couldn’t have said it better myself, or even half as well. Go for it. It’s fine as it.

RJ Buffalo

2025-02-21 04:46:30 +0000 UTC

uBlock Origin for everything, and SponsorBlock for YouTube. Pay your favorite creators with a subscription or by buying some merch, as the plugin robs them of ad revenue.

Colin Cogle

2025-02-21 04:13:44 +0000 UTC

Great video and I support you posting it. A few random thoughts that cropped up as I watched it: You seem framed further away than normal – was that a conscious decision to make yourself less “in our face” for a video with this kind of topic? I only recently started using YouTube subscriptions – maybe less than a year ago. As you said, the algorithm provided me the content I wanted anyway and I guess I thought that actually subscribing would validate the algorithm. Also, the constant “smash that like and subscribe” exhortations from many presenters gives me a knee-jerk reaction to not do any of those things. I don’t think I’ve ever “liked” a YouTube video. I share your concerns and I’m grateful that my job encourages/requires/forces me to problem-solve on my own. However, it’s also shown me how disinclined many people are to solve stuff themselves. It really is a rush when you can figure something out for yourself! A lot of the topics you bring up remind me of why I love Wikipedia and spend so much time helping/editing/reverting vandalism there: it’s delightfully manual and heartily non-algorithmic! FWIW, I think you’d love helping out on the reference desk there; it’d be right up your alley. Also – as a Canadian – thank you for calling out the 51st state thing. It’s frankly terrifying when the meth-head gun-nut next door starts talking about how much he’d like to live in your house.

Matt Deres

2025-02-21 04:00:11 +0000 UTC

I support publishing this video It is very likely a video preaching to the choir as it were. I am a little older than you I think and share many of your concerns. For a few years now I have completely switched back to bookmarking. This includes YouTube videos on my cell phone. Firefox has a feature to "add to home screen" a specific URL. Your "/videos" is one of them. I grouped these links into one of those icon collections and bingo bango. For sharing pages, I use an offline QR generator to encode URLs for sharing with other phones. As you discuss, I find discovering and organizing this information is very comfortable. I never log in to a site I don't have to, like youtube, and find the recommendations to be shockingly horrible, pseudosciece, clickbait "hacks", asinine news, and obviously manufactured content is always prevalent. I think your perspective is tangentially related to what Chris Hayes of MSNBC calls out as "Attention Capitalism". Guess I should sit down and read his book sometime so I can speak more knowledgeably here "The Sirens' Call". The gist I have gleaned so far is that by capturing our attention, they make money, and this is at the cost of our capacity to give other people around us attention and time. Ok, time to hit Barnes and Noble... :) Keep up the great work. I hope we move through this to a better place soon - It is always darkest before the dawn. I just hope its not 8PM now....

Ryan Roth

2025-02-21 02:25:14 +0000 UTC

Let it out Alec, just let it out. Speak truth to stupid.

Daniel Cayea

2025-02-21 01:59:49 +0000 UTC

I'm still in the midst of watching but as someone "well" versed (as much as is possible) in YouTube's mechanics and inner workings I do want to point out that I use the Subscriptions feed all the time... but 99% of the time the latest videos from people I subscribe to show up on the front page anyways so it's faster to just click on that, and then once my front page no longer has new videos for me from the people I'm subscribed to is when I click on my Subscriptions feed to see if I missed anything I care to watch, and usually the algorithm is pretty good about determining who I've actively been watching and who's videos I've mostly been passing on, either because they've been covering topics I'm not presently interested in or because they're just throwaway videos meant to archive or test things rather than be pieces of entertainment. However, I do recognize that I'm a special case in that I almost never stray from watching the people I'm subscribed to. For people who watch a lot of videos from people they're NOT subscribed to, then yeah, this would create algorithmic problems for sure, not to mention, it's kinda nuts how many people consistently watch channels WITHOUT ever subscribing to them. I've even noticed that YouTube now flashes the subscribe button anytime anyone actually says the word "subscribe" in their videos. :P This is basically just a long-winded way of saying that the 3% watching from the Subscriptions page is not an accurate metric... though it's probably not off by much to be significant and just something I wanted to point out in case it makes a difference in how you want to present things. Otherwise, yeah, there's a lot of people who definitely need to hear what you've got to say here. :B

Kris Asick

2025-02-21 00:32:22 +0000 UTC

i think annother aspect of the issues with the NYT and other news orgs is that the people misunderstand the journalistic principles of balance, and this has ended up with them publishing a lot of both siding and giving lies and hate a platform

Ceri

2025-02-20 23:18:18 +0000 UTC

This is dynamite, I hope spreading it far and wide lights the fuse.

Will Josephson

2025-02-20 23:01:58 +0000 UTC

I found this to be quite thought provoking! I'm very tired of "suggestions" and idiotic "news". Please proceed. I'm sure lots of folks will get mad but they're already unhappy so what can ya do?

Michael Brown

2025-02-20 22:38:19 +0000 UTC

Fantastic. Also, cancelled my NYT sub while pausing this video.

Lumo

2025-02-20 20:21:43 +0000 UTC

I may be a little OCD, but I kept wondering which caps you needed and if you could easily get them.

Kenneth Morenz

2025-02-20 20:08:22 +0000 UTC

Please don't change anything - it's perfect the way it is.

Paul Schuur

2025-02-20 19:54:07 +0000 UTC

I've watched it twice and do hope that you post it. I think it should be required viewing in a later primary school grade...

Kevin Tessner

2025-02-20 19:12:55 +0000 UTC

Curation on social media is great. I'm in my mid-50s, and use Facebook entirely way too much, but it keeps me connected to what friends near and far are doing. It does require constant training though to prevent my feed getting cluttered with crap. I scroll past video shorts (quickly, lest it notice me dwelling and decides to show me more), force myself not to react to or comment on posts that anger me (or it will say "Hey, great, you interact with this, let me show you more of it to keep your eyeballs on our ads!"), and search for friends whose content I haven't seen in a while, scroll through it, then Like and comment on their items so the algorithm brings them back into my feed. I've got my Facebook well trained, enough that I always get taken aback when people call it a cesspool and complain about what they're seeing on Facebook (very different from what I see), since for me it's a great connector. Without its algorithm though, I would _not_ be keeping up with 488 friends, family, former coworkers, fellow scuba divers, mountain bikers, and snowboarders. Clicking through 488 bookmarks on a regular basis would just be impossible.

Kevin Tessner

2025-02-20 19:11:07 +0000 UTC

Wow, I'm also Canadian, and my friends and I are universally repulsed at the idea of becoming Americans. I'd either move to Norway, or become a domestic terrorist.

Kevin Tessner

2025-02-20 18:53:33 +0000 UTC

Oh, absolutely this. I've watched twice, and I've been trying to figure out how to best get the rent-a-kids (two teens and a pre-teen) to watch and think about it.

Kevin Tessner

2025-02-20 18:49:58 +0000 UTC

Publish it!

Sarah Betterton

2025-02-20 18:41:28 +0000 UTC

Haven't been a Patreon member for too long but I really like the content of this video, and I think it's got a lot of important points that honestly nobody's gotten out as well as you. I don't think it's a very polarized video either and honestly props to you for that! I know I couldn't do it :)

Jariel 👋

2025-02-20 18:28:40 +0000 UTC

I returned to Tumblr for this reason. There is a for you page but no one uses it. It's user base is actively hostile to any attempt to curate our experience. I think that is the problem with bluesky ect. going forward, there is this idea you can work with the algorithm I much prefer a user base against the algorithm model.

Katherine Herbert

2025-02-20 18:26:49 +0000 UTC

Alec, what you said in this video needs to be spread far and wide. Please post this video publicly.

NextMan

2025-02-20 18:15:00 +0000 UTC

I think you do a very good job of explaining the issue with big tech algorithms here, but my pessimistic side says it will mostly fall on deaf ears. People are truly "plugged in and pacified," to borrow a line from a ska punk band I like, and I struggle to see a way to effectively encourage the masses to remove the dopamine drip that is "for you" style algorithms. To be clear, I still think it's important to publish the video. Somewhat related, there's a great video by YouTuber Alexander Avila called "Brat and the Culture of Addiction" that talks extensively about the pacifism/complacency that algorithms optimized for revenue have instilled in a lot of people. There's an extremely powerful scene where he says nothing and stares into the camera for a full 45 seconds to force the viewer to contend with how much engagement algorithms have conditioned their brains to seek out a constant stream of stimuli. It was uncomfortable even for me, someone who uses exactly two social media sites with chronological timelines and minimal suggested content. I can't begin to imagine how difficult that was/would be for the people who are, as you said, algorithmically complacent.

Keaton

2025-02-20 17:52:09 +0000 UTC

You should post it, it's a thoughtful take on our current situation and echos what I've seen other creatures say about videos that get a much wider reach than usual, the comments and 'engagement' sour very quickly.

Lori Reeder

2025-02-20 17:04:55 +0000 UTC

Nice job Alec. Sometimes it's important and necessary to be the curmudgeon. I say send it. It's a good video.

Randal Shoaf

2025-02-20 16:46:25 +0000 UTC

AI won't destroy us "Terminator" style. It's going to get us by removing our ability to think and thereby our ability to survive. You can see this in all the safety measures they add to try to keep pedestrians from dying. Pedestrians have been trained over time that they no longer need to pay attention.

Peter Holley

2025-02-20 16:39:40 +0000 UTC

Unlike the internet, as you pointed out, I have some nuanced views on some of what you said here. But at this point I suspect the waterfall of comments has already covered most of what I'd say. But I'll say this - I think you're on the right side of history here.

Circuitmike

2025-02-20 16:14:14 +0000 UTC

Disappointed it wasn't a video about how Molotov cocktails work. I use my Subscriptions feed. I save those videos for when I am able to give my full attention. I may technically "watch" a larger volume of algorithm videos, but usually only to have them on in the background while I'm doing something else (including potentially being out of earshot). "YouTube Recommendations are OPTIONAL" would pop as a title.

Mr. Underscore

2025-02-20 16:12:53 +0000 UTC

Love it, good stuff. Aesthetic note: I'm guessing this is how most of your rough cuts look with the wider (full?) framing that you can then crop into in edit to both trim framing and change the crop for emphasis and/or to hide edits... But I think it, combined with the visible jump cuts, makes for a very clear "this video is a little different" style. Seeing "beyond" the set provides an interesting visual clue that this is a little introspective, that we are looking in from the outside at a thing that we are normally inside of. Seeing the wider frame matches with us looking at the bigger picture. I'd be inclined to keep the full wide - or at least go out that far sometimes - in the final cut as I like the visual context it provides. As a further thought, it makes you smaller in the frame, which also seems.. less "in our face", or "take a stap back and think" or something. Hard to describe, but I just overall like the composition to this relative to your "regular" videos.

Mikko Wilson

2025-02-20 15:58:26 +0000 UTC

I think there’s good points raised here. I have a Facebook account I rarely engage with and will likely delete (again) when mum dies. Otherwise my only “social media” account would be YouTube - does this even count? My only real issue is that it seems a bit off-topic for Technology Connections. There’s not much about how these algorithms work. Whilst you’ve said you’re not into covering computing as such, you clearly have feelings so a deep dive into “the algorithm” to highlight your concerns would make it more on-brand in my eyes. Otherwise it’s a digression. I say this as someone who is likely very sympathetic politically from what I’ve gleaned watching your videos. I’m interested to see what a final version will look like!

Sean Aaron

2025-02-20 15:56:21 +0000 UTC

I'm in the 3%, I only use YT via the subscription feed. For the longest time I've been confused by the subscription feed wasn't just the default feed at YT, but I guess the 97% are the reason why. And yes, it's bookmarked! Also, I turned off my watch history so that to further break the recommendation feature intentionally (and generally reduce the data collection) Also, did you know,. there's a "Friends only " feed for Facebook as well !?! Just go to "Feeds" and select "Friends" or bookmark https://www.facebook.com/?filter=friends&sk=h_chr

Benjamin Kier

2025-02-20 15:51:34 +0000 UTC

Alec, from what I have seen so far, I think you should post this video. As a librarian by trade, I have to answer these questions on a day to day basis. AI is not always trustworthy and when patrons tell me that what they see online is true or are not able to help themselves find answers has undermined the work that I and my colleagues do. Fight the good fight.

Andrew L. Budny

2025-02-20 15:49:39 +0000 UTC

I want to add that the algorithmic Youtube home page has led me to find many of the creators I now follow (including you), but that has been EXCLUSIVELY through longform content. Shorts are such a disjoined dopamine fire hose that they seem to actively discourage digging deeper into specific creators, at least to my brain. This is a good video and an unfortunately very necessary one. Younger people who didn't grow up with 2010s Youtube are so accustomed to being spoonfed information that they don't know how to find anything for themselves or fact check.

Emily Elam

2025-02-20 15:46:00 +0000 UTC

I agree with you Alec and I want to let you know you are spot on in all regards.

Donald J Arndt

2025-02-20 15:30:42 +0000 UTC

It's a good video. I don't have a huge amount to say about it (well, I have lots of thoughts, but not so much critiques of the actual video), but I have one slightly tangential comment: I like that you don't call it "dependency" / "addiction". I'm a parent to a primary-aged kid, and many parents (at least in the UK) are on the verge of a moral panic around social media specifically, but also smartphones (or even "screens") more broadly. It's super frustrating, because of course there are valid reasons to be worried - indeed, the algorithmic stuff you're talking about is something we revisit a lot when talking to our kid - but it's all being blown up to wild proportions. A key part of that panic seems to be people casually labelling smartphones as "addictive". My thinking on this has been heavily influenced by Dean Burnett (a neuroscientist with a bit of a profile in the UK): calling it an addiction is unhelpful, potentially stigmatising, and ultimately possibly not even true. He goes into it in more detail on his blog (substack, unfortunately: https://theneuroscienceofeverydaylife.substack.com/p/are-you-addicted-to-your-phone-or ), but as I say it's kind of tangential to your actual point. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I appreciate your choice of words there. I also appreciate your approach to the subject which is in marked contrast to the panicked head-in-the-sand alarmism that I often see. We need more of this kind of thing!

HaethenClare

2025-02-20 15:02:21 +0000 UTC

I have no social media accounts other than LinkedIn which I only use during job searches (about every five years when it’s time for a change). In 2023, I deleted YT app and don’t use it at all. I’ve moved entirely to CuriosityStream, Nebula, Odysee, TED for my viewing pleasure. Oh and here on Patreon, of course, where I directly support people I want to. It’s been transformative, I love it and likely will not go back.

Brian Deschene

2025-02-20 14:55:42 +0000 UTC

Well said that man! Along the lines of us being sold a digital future where computers would do the menial repetitive tasks , freeing humanity to be creative, but quite the reverse being a distinct possibility. Well done restraining the rant about the lunacy of the orange sh*tgibbon.

Martin Lock

2025-02-20 14:32:38 +0000 UTC

I'm with you. Post it I think you give a nuanced, thoughtful rundown of a phenomenon we all experience but many of us don't have the words to explain. I don't think it's gonna get a lot of traction because, as I said, it's thoughtful and nuanced, but it's good to have in the world

OddOod

2025-02-20 14:04:19 +0000 UTC

I do think you should publish this, it seems long overdue even, but nonetheless well timed. As someone who uses the subscription feed, I have a quick note there: your data is probably way off. I always start on that feed to catch new videos, but I'll then go on to specific channels (like yours) that I feel like watching that day, or bounce to the home screen to get some algorithmic re-watch suggestions or discover new channels. Neither of those would count as a view from the subscription feed, despite being active choice, so worth being aware of that when you talk about the sub feed. Don't be afraid to tighten the editing a lot too, you probably don't want to undermine your reach by being too flouncy or tricksy with your language on this one. All the best with it though, if you release the video I'm sure you'll be in for some interesting work ahead.

Liliana

2025-02-20 14:01:57 +0000 UTC

As you stated, this video isn't directed at me because we are very much aligned in thinking, hence me financially helping you. As Moranin put it, I also think the Google Maps example is probably the best first example as it is the widest range example. I have friends and family who don't use GPS for in-town and common drives because "they know best." But for myself even if I know the destination I turn on Waze just to get an idea of my ETA. Sometimes it gives me some bonkers out there routes that like you said would save me 1 minute of drive time and not let me drive through the smaller neighborhoods. While I think your example for the radio is a great example of how you can use the internet for research, fact-finding, and critical thinking it doesn't go into the algorithmic complacency.

Alex Foreman

2025-02-20 14:00:33 +0000 UTC

This video put into words what has been bothering me for a while. Thank you and yes, do post it! On the topic of avoiding algorithmic complacency, there is a Firefox extension called Unhook which you can use to block YouTube's content curation algorithm partially or entirely. I mostly use YouTube without logging in, have Unhook set to block almost everything (empty main page, no recommendations on the right-hand side), and just manually check up on the ten-or-so creators I'm interested in. Sometimes I'll click through on a recommendation at the end of the video, but mostly I just open the site to watch one or two specific things and then close it again. This has vastly improved my YouTube experience.

Šuppiluliuma

2025-02-20 13:52:40 +0000 UTC

I really liked your video, as always... But this tech engineer may be biased against misinformation.

Watts Wire Extension Cords

2025-02-20 13:50:02 +0000 UTC

Which are your favourite ones?

Raul Ramos

2025-02-20 12:59:21 +0000 UTC

To summarise; I agree. Too many parasite middlemen bending information feeds to their advantage.

Jim Hewlett

2025-02-20 12:42:48 +0000 UTC

Only 3% click on you from Subscriptions?! That's wild. This whole video does encapsulate a feeling I have: I've become very anti-algorithm lately. I scroll BlueSky only through the Following feed; I watch YouTube on Tubular and only subscriptions (occasionally I'll notice a video on Trending or the side bar but rarely); and I've given up on all the other social networks as they're entirely algorithmic. At least with YouTube they give you a thumbnail and title and you have a decision whether to watch: TikTok just says "here, lots of people are watching this so you must watch too". I think you're expressing a feeling that many many people have but can't put their finger on.

Paul Coates

2025-02-20 12:24:18 +0000 UTC

Incredible video. My only suggestion would be to consider putting the google maps metaphor early in the video - it’s something that any viewer is going to understand. The radio web search metaphor, while interesting, is perhaps not going to land as well with a younger viewer. (I’m in my 40s and was absolutely able to follow and agreed, but can guarantee that my teenager would have been perplexed - but the maps example he would have understood instantly.). Even if you teased it, or something similar, and then left the details for later - it could help prevent someone from writing the uncomfortable truths you’re sharing off as “oh well but I don’t want to research old timey things so none of this will apply to me”.

Moranin

2025-02-20 10:33:16 +0000 UTC

I think it's a worthy video, for one it made me think more about algorithm vs selected media. I like Bluesky, abandoned Twitter when Elon arrived, but still have a massive list of RSS feeds collected since the early days of blogging. Now use a feed reader to follow 'news' (in all kinds of subjects) more than any social media, that's relegated to social use

Robin Capper

2025-02-20 10:24:53 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the video; I appreciated it. I would suggest two challenges to consider when forming its final version: 1. Pieces like this that consider a hypothesis about how people markedly different from yourself (and probably from your core audience) are necessarily speculative about inner thought processes. Is there an opportunity to gather more direct first-hand reports from the people whose interactions frustrate you? What if you were to reply to 50 commenters who have frustrated you and asked them, hey, would you mind having a short DM conversation about how you found my profile and what motivated you to comment? 2. Concerning 'traditional' media and the pursuit of clicks / ad sales / what-have-you, is there an element of 'twas ever thus'? I suspect this is a mix of, journalism has been commercial for a long time and the ugly side of that has reared its head throughout history (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism !), while at the same time undeniably financially-sustainable, deep journalism has been waning in the internet age. Could this angle be spun out a little through citation to folks studying the field full time and in more detail?

Christopher Smowton

2025-02-20 09:59:58 +0000 UTC

I think this video makes a good point, however I'm concerned that it could make people who suffer from algorithmic complacency become defensive and come up with biased reasons why you are biased. You also might want to consider that people who suffer from this problem might believe they are more knowledgeable because they consume more information (that is recommended to them) than their peers. They might also find it rewarding to spread the information that makes them feel smart (some out of context comments you mentioned might even be an example of that). You might want to think of a way to present the problem that makes a viewer who suffers from this problem feel smart (and that watching this video will make them even smarter).

Benjamin Albert

2025-02-20 09:59:43 +0000 UTC

You manage to eloquently convey my own feelings on this topic, Alec. I try hard to remove all algorithmic feeds in my life, but I'm stopped by all the walled gardens that do not offer RSS feeds (Youtube does, it's how I find your videos. I don't even need to use the subscriptions tab) On the topic of bluesky; I wish it had as good of a product as what Tweetdeck was (and now OldTweetdeck is). I like categorizing my follows and seeing them in separate timelines, but I miss keyboard shortcuts and an ability to clear out read items. I hope this will come to Bluesky soon, with deck.blue.

Peter K

2025-02-20 08:13:51 +0000 UTC

Oh thank goodness, I thought this was going to be about politics. (Yes I saw the Canada segment.) Yeah, I think you should publish this. It's a good reminder to someone like me and a good education to someone else. On the flip side, remember that "the next generation doesn't know anything because of technology" goes back to Aristotle complaining about writing. I'm going to try to use the subs feed more, including pruning some subscriptions. I am not on social media (I don't think YT and Patreon quite count). Book recommendation on this topic: Nicholas Carr, The Shallows (2010).

Max Goldstein

2025-02-20 07:20:25 +0000 UTC

I've always wondered what the whole 'ring the bell to be notified when a new video comes out' thing was about, since I almost exclusively use the 'subscribed' feed in Youtube. Knowing that I'm in the tiny majority explains so much. I'm curious where you think social media that is completely feed-less (or algorithm-less) such as Discord fits in, and if it's more on the 'problem' side of the equation, or the 'solution' side. I am also tickled that when you showed your radio, I paused the video and searched for the schematics and list of tubes, then unpaused to watch you do the exact same steps I did.

Mister Author

2025-02-20 07:07:43 +0000 UTC

Very good take on the algorithm "suggestions". I don't like them pushed at me either. I was not aware of the option on YouTube to just get recommendations from subscriptions. How I have always used YouTube is by scrolling the list of subscriptions I have and looking for the 'dot' to indicate they have uploaded a new video, and then go directly to their channel and see their new video(s) by upload date. In this way, I was never making use of any algorithm, and always just MANUALLY viewing video that have been uploaded by subscriptions. The only other social media I use is X, and this seems to be mostly subscription-oriented content, from those being 'followed', although there are random new 'channels' showing up, but usually by news topic. Funny enough, since you mentioned the NYT article on Canada 51, being in Canada, between talking with friends and co-workers, I can estimate 8 out of 10 would love it... likely for the US constitution (which protects rights better than the charter in Canada), and the 40% advantage of switching to the US $. Very interesting times... would would ever have imagined ? We'll see where this leads in due time.

Chris Blair

2025-02-20 07:03:22 +0000 UTC

I like this video. Everyone needs a reminder to slow down and be thoughtful in adopting new technology. About the anxiety I sense here, I am trying to temper my own with what I write next: When a new technology is widely adopted, it’s nearly always disruptive. It’s disturbing to see a thing created for good purposes get twisted to bad purposes. New tech shows us the best and worst of ourselves in new ways. Past examples: 1) TV. Many old men yelling at clouds were yelling that TV would rot our brains and prevent deep thought. I think it is vapid escapism for most people, but those people were probably vapid to begin with. Humanity did not give up education for TV, and TV has been used for good. I have heard the argument that Vietnam was so much more controversial because it was televised. It brought home the reality of the horrors of war. Interesting argument. 2) In the 1700’s, it was the rise of the novel that caused so much ire. I like Jane Austen’s novels, and she pokes fun at the moral outcry against women in particular reading gothic novels and getting carried away in Northanger Abby. Simultaneously, she recognizes the possibility that some silly young women could do that. Without minimizing how much more insidious this technology could be due to its ubiquity, ease, and near invisibility, the point remains: I suspect, with disappointment, that there is a large chunk of humanity who will avoid the need to think when seeking easy entertainment. I also suspect there is a significant chunk who will always choose independent thought. This video is a rally cry for the thinkers. “Don’t go to the dark side!” And I think that’s worth putting out there. Further, I like this video because it does have that naughty, naughty nuance that only a thinker could have. Algorithms and AI can make life so much easier. Regarding AI, specifically, I saw an interesting “Answer In Progress” video that makes me think these things are actually only designed to be good at doing what humans aren’t. She compared her test scores on a battery of tests to AI, and the results were intriguing. https://youtu.be/QrSCwxrLrRc?si=twvxdxMr2Iz61PkD If that’s what we keep in mind: these are assistants, not the boss, then AI does have great promise as a tool for thinkers. Algorithms have been used in my day job since 2011. They just find patterns faster than a person can. They’re a good tool. The thing about tools, though, is they can be used however the user wants - for better and worse. Speaking of scary tool use, Home Alone made snow shovels terrifying. It’s deeply important that we remind each other not to get carried away in either enthusiasm or fear. I am trying not to be Kevin with the neighbor, but Kevin with the thieves. I think this video walks a pretty good line. One note about the “political” part: If the U.S. were a car, it feels like we have power-hungry megalomaniacs all grasping at the wheel. I agree the Canada thing is INSANE. Europe is meeting and talking about what a defense against the U.S. would look like! This is bonkers. That said, I feel most ambivalent about that section because it’s absolutely correct in how nuts that article is, but it also feels very tangential and speculative. It would be better to have a source to confirm whether major news outlets use algorithms or AI or some other connection between that article and some algorithmic incentive.

TIFFANY L

2025-02-20 06:50:39 +0000 UTC

It’s fine. But as you will see, I am not 97% of your audience. Tv and radio are a feed as well. I think a lot of folks just want to zone out. My sister works in a hospital .. i understand why she needs a way to switch off, and why she might yield to an algorithm. I stopped bothering with broadcast TV and radio, and then later also most social media as it started to break me. I am in the 3% that use the YT subscribe feature to find stuff. I mostly put it in watch later, and mostly only watch that, even then not all of it. This video suggested to me why I have not bothered to use AI much. There are use cases that resonate .. hard things I can’t do .. like writing code that is beyond me. But this is problematic because I still want to understand what it does. And since I didn’t do the leg work to write the code, I have to spend time to pull it apart and figure it out.

Ben Prescott

2025-02-20 06:43:54 +0000 UTC

I'd love to point to this video as another take on a tricky idea to describe. Here's my go to example. It's pretty niche, but it's relatable in the field. I hope. There's a school of thought in programming that pops up occasionally that resonates with this. Comes in lots of forms, but the quintessential one is "you can do anything with plain text". There was a bit of a famous holy war about it a few years ago with SystemD, and broadly it was "plain text config" versus "binary with tooling"; SystemD won (for lots of great reasons!), though plain text is still king even there. One of the complaints about it was that it led further down the slippery slope of magical tooling - systems so complex that simple invocations kicked off incomprehensible Rube Goldberg machines. There's vastly more egregious versions of this, though. A few years ago Ubuntu's parent company Canonical straight up made a product called Juju for exactly that reason: if you type in a simple command, wild magics kick in and deploy entire data centers. That's barely an exaggeration. And when it worked it was awesome. At least I'm sure it was for someone - for me it forced me to learn how the magic worked to debug why it kept failing. That's my personal example I talk about on this idea. But it's way too niche, technical, and specific. So that's why I would like very much if you release this video. Both to illustrate the magic that's blindly taking over our lives and the consequences (good and bad) that follow. And a little how to exercise against it.

Andrew Geiger

2025-02-20 06:33:58 +0000 UTC

I like this content and see no reason not to polish it, but - the Patreon audience may not be representative of your general audience, let alone society at large. That said, even if there are fundamental discrepancies in the audiences, I think this content still has value for advocating effort.

Jeremy

2025-02-20 06:20:03 +0000 UTC

Google's search engine doesn't even work when you want to buy the thing for which you are searching. Instead, the result is populated with whatever crap is paying the most that day, and the item you seek is nowhere to be found.

Peter

2025-02-20 06:07:36 +0000 UTC

Well, I think you’re right that most of the people who most need this won’t be likely to stumble on this and watch it, but this video can be shared. This video can help the less eloquent among us with talking points. If it even makes one single person stop and think, that’s worth it.

TIFFANY L

2025-02-20 06:07:16 +0000 UTC

I pretty much only ever use the Subscriptions feed on Youtube. I can't stand the recommendations. (also why I try to stick to the Following feeds on instagram, threads, etc. and why I like using Mastodon.) I just wish I could put my subscriptions into folders. Mostly so I can group them by subject matter, but yeah, also to deal with those channels that spam too much content.

tim1724

2025-02-20 06:06:41 +0000 UTC

Send

Nick Raynor

2025-02-20 05:54:43 +0000 UTC

Alec, I regard you as one of the more trusted voices in our information society and it would almost be a shame if you did not release this video to the wider world via the main channel or at least on Connextras.

Mark Hesse

2025-02-20 05:31:17 +0000 UTC

You managed to express a feeling of unease I've been having with modern online culture very well. By the way, the beginning of the video put a smile on my face, as for my work I do a lot of online research very similar your radio example (looking for old chairs or TV props for identification), and it's such a rewarding and fun experience for me.

Tadeo D'Oria

2025-02-20 05:26:07 +0000 UTC

I'll be the semi-contrarian. I do agree with the larger message here, but I have some nits and picks. -Problem Solvers- So just to nit-pick this part a bit, you claimed humans are primarily problem solvers. And, while I agree that problem solving is a major component of what got us to where we are today, it feels a bit wrong to put all of arts in the same category as the rest of that list of "all great things" you rattle off after. If we got rid of all art and lived in a problem-only world, people would invent artful ways of solving problems. If we got rid of all problems and lived in an arts-only world, people would invent problems to be solved. I think sharing art (stories, dance, fun design) and solving problems are equally core to what makes humans what they are, it's just that the effects of problem solving are more obvious (you had a problem, and now it's solved, perhaps spinning off new problems to solve) while art is a much more subtle and hard to quantify effect on our history and growth. -Not wanting to do 'effort'- Consider cars. While it is true that people using automatic and not performing their own car maintenance are going to be less familiar with cars, the people who don't use automatic and simply rely on auto shops have perfectly valid reasons for that; simply put, cars aren't their passion, they are tools required in our modern world for getting around. Sure, I think we can all agree that knowing a thing or two about your car is more valuable than not, but not everyone has time to learn about everything, so you gotta make some choices about what you focus on. For many folks, a car is just a thing that needs to get them from point A to B fairly reliably, and they'd prefer to focus mental efforts elsewhere. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Similarly, some people are going to want to control and set their internet/social media experience, while others want to just click the app and stay connected. There is a very serious problem with current algorithms attempting to be addicting and shocking, for sure, but a person's desire to just... have work without setup is completely reasonable unless they're way into it. I totally think everyone should have a few hobbies/activities that they put effort into making great (even some simple ones like how you prep/get your coffee or tea!). However, I think it's unfair to expect everyone to put in effort for each thing they partake in. Maybe coffee is a morning ritual they refine bit by bit until they have the perfect blend, or maybe it's something they keep simple with a few scoops of instant. Maybe they tinker on their car to make it flashy and personal and keep it running, or maybe they just buy something stock that gets them from A to B. Maybe they curate their social media presence and interactions... or maybe they just sign up and let the highlights roll. -Canada- This part is blunt and perfect, do not remove it. -Conclusion- I want to again emphasize that I largely think this video and (its topic) is great. My critiques are not because I think it's bad, but because I think it is a solid enough piece to warrant suggested refinements. Refinements that, hopefully, mean commentary does not veer from the point of the video over some argued nuance. I wholeheartedly agree that we need to take back more control of our feeds, but a sense of (non-sensationalized) algorithm/automation to jumpstart your new life on a social media site is not entirely outrageous. It just needs to be tempered. -Final (semi-related) thoughts- It might be a fantastic idea for a completely separate (and later) vid to dive into current AI uses that are less hype-filled. Also tackling the actual use-cases for LLMs. You know, the ones that aren't largely ignoring due diligence, skipping responsibility, or acting like a party trick.

Nicolas Pereira

2025-02-20 05:23:56 +0000 UTC

I concur with other commentators that you should blur/redact account names when using screenshots. It encourages honest and open discourse by showing that you respect the privacy of your audience, even if said viewers may not respect it themselves.

Jason Schneiderman

2025-02-20 05:17:28 +0000 UTC

There are so many good points in this video that I have been thinking about the last few years and you have put words to them in a great way!

Ben Brand

2025-02-20 05:15:06 +0000 UTC

I really enjoyed this video and think you hit a lot of nails on the head. I think it would be a good video to release to get people thinking about this sort of thing. The internet as a whole has changed so much that I think newcomers are having a difficult time understanding the difference between curated content and the garbage example you showed via Google news.

Mac84

2025-02-20 05:14:07 +0000 UTC

As a long-time follower, I echo the messages you are putting forward, especially the need for critical thinking when engaging with news sources. As a behavioral scientist and educator, I want to empower you with ways to make your message more impactful and meaningful to your viewers, especially the ones who are regular subscribers to your channel. My main piece of advice is to provide your viewers with some easy-to-access tools to do what you are advocating. In other words, to answer the question, "Ok, I agree with you. Where can I learn how to put this into practice?" One way to do this is to provide "suggested further readings" references. You are one of many talented and committed science and technology communicators on the internet whos work you can utilize here. An example from my own experiences in higher education is Crash Course: Navigating Digital Information at https://thecrashcourse.com/topic/navigatingdigitalinfo/ . Additionally, you have a curated community here on Patreon that is invested in your work and will likely jump at the bit to help you identify other resources that you can share with your larger audience. On a tangent in case you haven't already seen it, you should look at the Gartner Hype Cycle as an approach to understanding technology trends such as generative AI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner_hype_cycle

Jason Schneiderman

2025-02-20 05:13:26 +0000 UTC

I agree with this. The people who most need this information I believe won’t take the time to really slow down and make changes in their lives.

Rebecca Hill

2025-02-20 05:04:01 +0000 UTC

I appreciated this video. Being a younger millennial, or a much older gen Z however you want to put it, I was already noticing the algorithmic complacency in my life, but I did not have the correct words to use yet. I greatly dislike the firehose onslaught of information that comes at me, so I often use the subscriptions feed and the occasional discovery feed to find cool new things to get excited over. Reddit is my favorite at the moment because I can really personalize it. Personal anecdote aside, I feel that this video is important and it should be polished and shared. I feel like it could open the eyes of some viewers and remind them to slow down and think about what information they are consuming. Thank you for sharing, Alec.

Rebecca Hill

2025-02-20 05:02:40 +0000 UTC

Interesting discussion. material. Would people watch this? Short attention spans being what they are, I would say: no.

Arthur Robillard

2025-02-20 04:30:41 +0000 UTC

I think that's significant enough to merit removal. I'm making a list of things to check on tomorrow

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 04:28:13 +0000 UTC

you might be preaching to the choir with us, but for me personally this video put to words, really well, the anxiety and dislike of algorithms that I've been feeling as of late. now I feel like I can better explain to people why I have been distancing myself from algorithmic feeds as much as I can lately, and that's not nothing

protogon

2025-02-20 04:26:20 +0000 UTC

First things first you should probably file a trademark on algorithmic complacency. I don't know if you can actually file a trademark for that but it sounds like a cool phrase and you came up with it so yeah. Secondly I like the video and it talked about things that I kind of knew in the back of my mind but he never really verbalized. And reminded me that I really need to go through my social media and prune it aggressively. I pretty much don't even use my social media anymore because it's become so useless so maybe if I curate it better it will become useful again. I did not know about the Subscribe feed on YouTube but I hardly ever go to the YouTube site most of the things that I watch on YouTube I access via either patreon or Discord including technology connections.

WildMartin

2025-02-20 04:22:39 +0000 UTC

The first ten minutes or so were good, gonna wait until the final edit to watch the rest

BrandEver

2025-02-20 04:15:53 +0000 UTC

Thank you so much for this feedback, Andrew. I see exactly what you mean and it's giving me a lot to think about. In some senses I have created a somewhat cranky character over the years. In a previous version of the script I acknowledged this, and now I see it got removed. I think I might regret that. But on the other hand, I do have to admit that when I record these videos, I am in some senses performing a character. I haven't thought about it but the ways I inflect and emphasize my voice in this performance are truly there to serve as clarifiers of the message I intend to convey, but they're also what makes the on-screen character a character. And to my audience which is used to that, it may be worth staying more in my "typical" character since I think the real way this message spreads is word-of-mouth between close humans, and not through sharing on YouTube. I'll think long and hard about the in-group vs. out-group framing and what audience I'm really seeking to convince.

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 04:05:10 +0000 UTC

This was a good video but, sadly, I don't think it will resonate with the audience who most needs it. The work of curation is absolutely worthwhile, but it is still unquestionably work and most people engage with algorithms to satisfy their desire for instant gratification. Any work - no matter how small - is too much for most. I refuse to engage with opaque, algorithm-driven feeds but I find myself increasingly in the minority. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the solution is. People used to care. I remember when Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube feeds had to be curated. I remember the uproar when each of those platforms changed to algorithmic feeds (YouTube kept their subscriptions feed, but relegated it to a link in the sidebar). All of those platforms have grown by an order of magnitude since then, so it looked like the switch worked for them. As far as I can tell, the casual audience strongly prefers algorithmic feeds. The only answer I can think of is to create government regulations to attempt to mitigate the damage they do, but I cannot imagine something like that ever being enacted in the US - or if it were, effectively enforced. Maybe the EU would have more of an appetite for something like that, but it still feels like a long shot.

Branden Lange

2025-02-20 04:05:08 +0000 UTC

I find your content through here and the YouTube subscription feed. I just block their crap left and right, so add a fraction of one percent to your stats.

Colin Cogle

2025-02-20 03:58:45 +0000 UTC

I gave up Google’s search engine because when I enter a search term, it’s because I want to LEARN about that thing, NOT where I can buy one. It’s so frustrating that the top 10 results are Amazon or Wal~Mart links. I quit using the Chrome browser and went with DuckDuckGo browser and search engine. It may take me a little more time (I’m not sure of that, I just want to admit that I’m willing to put up with it if that is true) but the search results seem to be more likely to give me information than a sales pitch. I know good and well that Google maps results are rarely the best options, because when I use them in area I know well (as a firefighter with intimate knowledge of my local streets) when neither of the top three suggestions are actually the best way to get from point A to point B. Perhaps running red lights and stop signs give me an unfair advantage over other motorists, but I suspect that routing me past Google advertisers might be the algorithm’s top motivator. The only advice I’d give to your video would be wearing a different shirt, because when I look at your face, the rainbow stripe across your waist in my peripheral vision keeps looking like you’re wearing a brown weight belt. 🤣💙 But I do think this is a worthwhile topic. And do you know if DuckDuckGo is a “better” search engine? For me “better” means less sales pitchy or less curated to what the search engine “thinks” I want to know.

Dan Oberste

2025-02-20 03:48:27 +0000 UTC

I liked this a lot. I’m a 31-year-old dude who Does Computer for a living. I mostly learned how to Do Computer as a kid/teen, by googling stuff like “how to do thing with software” or “I broke this thing how do I fix it”. This video touched on so many of my own crotchety tendencies, and I’m so happy to see I’m not the only one concerned about these things. - Lack of active curiosity and problem solving. As the designated Computer Person in most of my family and friend groups, it scares me how much I’ve become the Designated Googler as well. I don’t know offhand what model phone you have or whether it supports wireless charging…. But I can tell you where to look it up, and YOU should look it up! - Even if you have the curiosity to solve those problems…. Sometimes the thing you’re trying to fix won’t give you any insight about why it’s broken! Computers have streamlined themselves to the point of “it just works, and if it doesn’t you need to have an authorized professional investigate why”. This ranges from the tiny computer that lives in my pocket and calls itself an iPhone 15, all the way up to the massive 4-wheel-drive computer that lives in my garage and calls itself a Kia EV9. I cannot tell you how frustrating it was to be on a road trip, unable to connect to a charging station, and have no more detailed an error than “charging failed”. Tell me the basic symptoms so I can do basic troubleshooting, like I did 15 years ago. Expose this information to the normies so that they also get into the habit of doing basic troubleshooting, too. - Algorithmic news/social curation, we’re pretty much in agreement on. I wanted to add the specific point that many of these passive services aren’t even showing time stamps on their content anymore, and treating it as evergreen! If you swipe through TikTok or YT Shorts, you will often see people talking about stories that were resolved or debunked weeks or months before… which is unacceptable. I also wanted to point out that I dug into one of these news curation services (Ground) about a year ago, and I’m troubled by how much it seems designed to polarize people further. Thanks for humoring my rant, and I’ll end with the tidbit that you can completely disable the YouTube Discover feed if you want! If you turn off Watch History, the home page is completely blank and the shorts feed doesn’t work at all.

Scoott

2025-02-20 03:44:49 +0000 UTC

YouTube is unusable without multiple add-one blocking ads, trackers, and interstitial ads. But I don’t feel bad because I pay Alec directly.

Colin Cogle

2025-02-20 03:44:27 +0000 UTC

Same. I’m hoping more content creators go to PeerTube, like how tweeters went to Mastodon.

Colin Cogle

2025-02-20 03:42:05 +0000 UTC

All points in the video resonate for me, but I'm the converted. Tonally, I think there might be some opportunities to polish and re-frame so the video might be of more use to the people you actually want to influence. For much of the video, you are describing behaviors you clearly disapprove of as traits of an "out group", as in "people don't want to curate their feed anymore" etc. Except (I presume), you are hoping that those very people will watch this, take notice, and possibly change for the better. For maximum effect, I think that audience might be more receptive to a more sympathetic and direct approach. Speak to "you" on the other side of the screen rather than about "people". Consider acknowledging the benefits ("it's so easy to get answers from Chat GPT...") before calling out the harms ("...but you could be getting bad information, or missing out on critical knowledge.") etc. In short, what you have in this draft is a rant (one which I personally enjoyed!), while what the audience probably needs is a pep talk. Whatever you do with it, I'm thrilled you're thinking and speaking about this! Whatever happens to the broader internet, we should cultivate an enclave of engaged, thoughtful, resourceful people who can make the most of our little corner of it. Thanks for posting and sharing!

Andrew Roberts

2025-02-20 03:39:25 +0000 UTC

When I heard you mention a radio museum, I checked, and it’s not related to Connecticut’s radio museum. If you ever come out east, you could probably get an episode or two out of the radios, communications equipment, and early computers they have there. https://www.vrcmct.org/ And if you ever want to dive down the ham radio rabbit hole, I’ll gladly proctor your exam!

Colin Cogle

2025-02-20 03:36:03 +0000 UTC

Similarly frustrated Silicon Valley guy here. You nailed it, 100 f**king percent.

Jason Thorpe

2025-02-20 03:34:34 +0000 UTC

A good title for this video would be the ("enshittification", "crapification" or "platform decay" of the internet). In fact your qualms about the Internet/platform algorithms can be seen in any tech, hobby, or object that gains mass popularity. Video games for instance, at one time we had to figure out how to play through intelligent game design. Now slap yellow paint on objects or have a radio buddy tell the player what to do. The heart of this issue is mass appeal and accounting for the least intelligent person, thus lowering the IQ of the whole in the goal of achieving mass profit and appeal. I miss the old net. I am in that 30 bracket and my back hurts because of it. In fact Linus and of LTT had a rant similar to yours on zoomers not able to troubleshoot simple tech problems because of devices becoming too locked down and not having the effort or the skills to chase down problems. Convenience is nice but as you've noted there's a price to pay for it. (However Alec, I do remember a snark comment in a video about pc docks and Linux. Something along the line of "I value my time" 😆) Speaking on the MSN part. Your condemnation is absolutely correct, the news nowadays are chasing clicks rather than reporting news. However that's not as new as in "new Internet" new. JibJab has a wonderful video on the subject from 2007 called "What We Call The News" I like to share it whenever the news gets too up into clickbating and competing with social media. All that being said, ask yourself if you're wondering if you should post this "Who is this for?" In my unsolicited opinion youll run into the bluesky issue if this video goes public. Keep it unlisted and shared amongst your followers & you'll preach to the choir. Maybe throw it into the edit room again and focus on each subject and make multiple videos on "Algorithms and you", "How I find obscure info" or something on how "AI is nothing new." If you could somehow turn this into a video like your air fryer video showing how it's all marketing and reselling an old technology/ideas I think it'll be a hit for both subscribers and non. To end my comment I will quote my favorite movie quote from MIB "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know." Whenever I deal with the public I have to remember that quote otherwise I worry about the future and it helps to pick out people/organizations who pray on those public fears and ignorance.

PiraTed

2025-02-20 03:29:29 +0000 UTC

Great points. I hope it gets a lot of views. It reminds me of the lyrics from a song my grade school classmate wrote (as an adult). Rewrite the rules, rewrite the game. For the love not the fame, the soul not the name. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLwR3IucNfM

Eric Blom

2025-02-20 03:25:54 +0000 UTC

It’s so funny, the timing of this… I was just talking with my wife about whether we’re actually creatures of free will anymore. That’s always been pondered, but until recently, I felt the answer was yes. Great video, ship it!

Luke Hogan

2025-02-20 03:24:18 +0000 UTC

If I were still teaching my AP English Language class, I would assign this video as a part of the research component. Not only does it nail the point I was constantly trying to make (i.e., research is not some academic exercise you do to check off a box for credit; it's a quintessentially human quest to find out who, what, when, where, why, and how), it also clearly underscores the importance of careful source-checking: Who says? Why? Put it out there, please,.

Christie McCormick

2025-02-20 03:20:03 +0000 UTC

Well of course I think you should post this video, but I'm a grumpy old man who likes to yell at clouds... On the YouTube front, I take things a bit further by disabling my Watch History (recommended videos have no power here lol), subscribe to all of channels I like (~300, I don't keep up with all of them), and then only turn on notifications for the channels I want to actually keep up with (~20-30 channels) but I still don't watch every video in there. That way I personally pick which ones I watch and which ones I skip. On the potential downside, I generally don't find new channels unless they work with, or are mentioned by, a channel I do watch; but I feel like I follow too many already so not really a downside for me.

Porus

2025-02-20 03:19:24 +0000 UTC

Excellent insider info...Well, it looks like I can follow your Bluesky account from Mastodon since you've apparently already done the whole bridge thing, so I'll try that and see how it works out.

Joel Diaz

2025-02-20 03:14:15 +0000 UTC

+1 for publish it. :)

evistre

2025-02-20 03:05:49 +0000 UTC

SHIP IT. No notes.

AJV

2025-02-20 02:55:07 +0000 UTC

I think the underlying concept is sound but there are two additional things to consider: 1. People The Internet of old, where people curated their own stuff was that way primarily because the Internet itself was hard to get on, so only those with enough curiosity to do so were on it. This inherently created an environment where people wanted to explore and find new things on their own. This core group of initial curious users started out as 99% of the people on the Internet. As connecting to the Internet became easier, less curious people started to come online, as it was easier and they could, and the pendulum started to swing the other way. When everyone is now online by default, the pendulum has swung the entire other way because, IMO, the general public probably splits %1 curious users, 99% passive consumers. Hence it's not algorithmic complacency, as those that are curious still use the internet much as they always have (me included) ignoring much of the algorithmic slop that is out there. It's just the curious users are now so outnumbered that the majority of platforms tailor their businesses to the 99% (and smartly so as they make a lot of money that way). I'd more call it complacency saturation. 2. Communications technologies This isn't the first time this has happened. Historically, all new communications technologies go through this kind of life cycle. Books were published by a small group of people that control which ones were published because it was expensive (aka hard to do) until it because cheaper and anyone could publish a book, to the point today I can publish a book with a click. Newspaper curated their feeds too when they first started (and still do really), but as more competition came about, they had to produce more and more content to be competitive. TV (including news programs) when through the same process, when there were only three networks, you got what they feed you, then cable came along, then the internet, and suddenly you could effectively create your own shows. A. Result Taken in the above two context's, this isn't all that new. What is new is the ability of these platforms (with algorithms) to target individuals much more effectively than at any other time in history, which allows the algorithms of today to be much more effective than in the past. This has created the Internet of today, where the majority of people are happy to passively consume whatever is in their feed, no matter how it got there, as long as it keeps coming and they don't have to work to get it. The curious users are the ones building alternatives to that, like Mastodon and the Fediverse, but it's hard to get that 99% of passive consumers to be interested in it (which might be for the best?), as it takes more work to use, and therefore generate the critical mass it would need to displace the silicon valley tech giants that dominate the platforms. The good news (kind of), is that the old Internet does still exist, it's just dwarfed by the new Internet that the 99% use. So if your curious enough, and willing to put in the work, you too can still get that old Internet experience... just with gigabit speeds instead of 56k howler monkeys 😉

Greg

2025-02-20 02:50:56 +0000 UTC

This is a great summary of a growing problem. Even as I was watching the video, I could pick out instances where I myself have fallen into the exact sort of thinking you’ve described! Definitely a video that should be published. I’m sure there will be some who don’t appreciate the gravity of the situation we face if we continue down this path. But if this video convinces one person to take a step back and start thinking for themselves again, I’d consider that a big win.

Chris Napoleon

2025-02-20 02:50:45 +0000 UTC

You're doing better than me, in that case. I do find myself trolling the home page. They have managed to make that activity addicting in and of itself. Probably better to avoid the home page entirely, but every once in a while, I do manage to drain the playlist.

Brandon Lewis

2025-02-20 02:45:40 +0000 UTC

If I may be so bold as to call you Alec. Even though we have not been formally introduced. I'm 58 and have been on the internet since 90. Have too much experience, good and bad and too much self. Knowledge to ever give advice to anybody furthermore. It seems to me that often if people are asking permission to do something. Then really? They've already decided what they want to do and they're actually just looking for a confirmation. Having said that, I think your video is great and I agree with many points in it. However, it reminds me of the old quote. The education system, is it worse? It's ever been and it's always been this way. The way agree with much of what you have said. I do not think that your situation and believe so either novel or likely to gain the attention or change that you hope they would make. It's a great video. It's probably not suitable for your mentiomain. Channel, not because you wrong, but because this analysis has never appealed to the mainstream. A lot of what you say or think has changed has always been the case. Even pre internet I may be mistaken. That is more than possible. I do like your idea that humans are problem. Solves, David doyce calls us universal. Explain us and without wishing to see a latest. Yes, that is us at our best and again. Without wishing to seem like I'm drawing under the people's authority, PRJ once said roughly speaking, translated and very, very basic, only about 1 and 6 people ever get this stuff. I've watched you since t's 2129.94 phones. A second recommending my Parker. So it's not like I'm new to this and again. I do not claim expertise, but I just want to tell you what I think. I think everything you said has great value and a lot of truth to it. But it's almost like singing. It's the opposite of preaching to the quiet. It will not be appreciated by many people who watch your main channel and I would just leave it here. Thank you for every moment. I've enjoyed in all of your videos even up to watching practical engineering last week. That both highlighted you and Matt Parker oddly enough. So I understand why you made this video I think everything you said has great value but I don't think that it would change anything or that it would be the right thing for your main channel.Thank you.I hope this was some use. Obviously some of the above is a bit garbled, that voice recognition on a Geordie accent, after 22 years living in the USA and 6 cans of beer. Best wishes. Love your content, truly that not an ironic comment or a post modern piece of fluff.

Robert Ridley

2025-02-20 02:44:58 +0000 UTC

I very much agree with everything you said, so I'm jumping on the Send It Train, and would even encourage you to say it louder for the people in the back. I'll gladly share it around so it hopefully makes it to the right audience. My big thing when it comes to AI as a composition tool is that the raw output is not my words in my voice. I regularly get emails that were obviously written by Copilot from coworkers and every time I cringe a little. Like you touched on, I don't want to give up that verbal agency; I want everything I create to have at least some part of "me" in it. Touching on Google Maps for a moment, YES, I have noticed that the routing has gotten worse. Most of the time it's something annoying like being directed to the back entrance of a building/business, but recently it took me out on a route several miles longer than the normal, direct way to get to the local highway. I thought maybe there was a road closure, but no, Maps just decided to take me the long way, because reasons. Finally, as always, thank you for your contributions that make the world a slightly better place.

Evil Kyle

2025-02-20 02:43:02 +0000 UTC

Speaking as one of the 3% who might come to your YT videos via the subscription feed, I feel pretty proud of myself. (Lately I just watch on Patreon.) I've actually turned off my YT history so it can't serve me up anything on the recommended feed; I use the subscription feed alone. I often do something similar with media outlets; I get their newsletters because they end. As I heard on Dear Hank and John literally minutes before watching this, "Don't use anything that doesn't have a bottom." I've got an example of algorithmic complacency just from today, and a couple additional thoughts as well. I work in a high school, and today a group of students was charged with measuring two rectangles of paper 8cm by 4cm. I handed out the rulers. I came around after a few minutes and saw they'd done nothing. I asked why. They said, "We don't know how to measure it." I picked up the ruler to show them and realized that it was very old and only had Imperial units. So yeah, that's a problem! I hadn't given them the right tool for the job! And they knew they didn't have the right tool. But they didn't look for a new ruler, or ask for one, or even ask for help. They just sat there until I arrived with a query and then a solution. I've seen this kind of thing before, and it's been puzzling me -- so thank you, Alec. This has been helpful and enlightening. I don't think the group sat on its hands because of algorithmic complacency alone, however. Their problem-solving muscles are clearly atrophying, yes. But in high school (as in every human environment, but especially high school) there's also a huge terror of being wrong -- or more accurately, terror of being Not Part Of The Group. Saying something would draw attention to the fact that they had a problem others had, which meant they were Different (and possibly vulnerable/culpable/risible -- none of those things are true, but again: high school). This had to be avoided at all costs, and depending on an answer someone else provided would restore them to being Part Of The Group. The human desire to Be Part Of The Group is so fundamental, but my gosh can it tie us in knots sometimes. But I think algorithmic complacency has an even deeper and even worse source. Human genetics are hardwired to conserve energy, because we evolved in an environment where energy was never guaranteed. Brains consume vast amounts of energy. Lazy thinking literally consumes fewer calories, and therefore from our DNA's perspective, it is better. Algorithmic thinking is extreme mental laziness. It is therefore extremely attractive to calorie-conserving instincts...

Paul Christiansen

2025-02-20 02:42:13 +0000 UTC

You're making me nostalgic for the days when the biggest problem with the internet was that AOL made it somewhat annoying to get to "the real web". Until I realized that I could just configure AOL as I would any other PPP provider, and bypass their application entirely.

Brandon Lewis

2025-02-20 02:41:24 +0000 UTC

You view YT the exact same way I do. My icon on my phone opens YT directly to my subscriptions (not sure if that's Android only or what), and I drop things into Watch Later or some other specialized list I've created. I literally never see YT's "home" screen with random algorithm picks.

Darren Pierce

2025-02-20 02:39:43 +0000 UTC

Oh and btw you can't make your own collections replacement using the youtube API. I looked into it.

Ni'Var is not just a planet in the Vulcan system

2025-02-20 02:33:18 +0000 UTC

I agree with close to all of the things in the video -- only one point of very minor disagreement. Before I get to that, though, as a machine learning/AI researcher in Silicon Valley, I feel so seen. Yes and yes, I completely despise the way VC has consumed the term "AI" and transformed it into a thing that has to be applied everywhere instead of one of a suite of useful tools. The current climate feels as though my circa-2007 self, having just gotten into the field, said, "I wish machine learning was more popular among the average population," an failed to notice a monkey's paw curling up a finger. The place where I almost-sorta'-kinda' disagree, at least with the wording more than the intent, is this: "it's a very different thing to automate what people see. Offloading that task to automation, regardless of the type, is what I think is getting us into trouble." The 'regardless of type' keeps catching my eyes because, for example, searching the internet is offloading the information to others and telling others to filter the things that are not relevant. We need to rely on them to decide the inclusion criteria at spidering/scraping time and the search algorithms to use at index and query time. We decide that Google or Bing or Yahoo or Altavista or Baidu should filter down and select the content because we physically cannot consume the volume of data in a way that's meaningful to find our needles in this haystack. There's a certain pragmatism that requires us to balance trust in the providers. (There are other solutions that require us to make huge changes and I could talk about those at length, but...) Anyhow, I'm pretty sure you think the same thing based on the rest of the context of the video, but I want to point out that one part in the hope that it will preempt the hapless masses of people going, "ACKSHUALLY SEARCH IS THIS. I AM VERY SMART." Outside of that, yes; love the video and the concept. I vote to ship it.

Joseph Catrambone

2025-02-20 02:31:45 +0000 UTC

I begin to appreciate how my teachers felt when my generation became dependent on pocket calculators. However, I had an undiagnosed learning disability: my dependence on calculators was all but inevitable, given their ubiquity. No amount of extra effort on my part was going to make me better or faster at arithmetic. It's no wonder I went into software, because the whole point is getting machines to do the math. Ironically, I've learned to love math, because of computers, though II still loath mental arithmetic. But the higher math, of geometry, algebra, and category theory I now find very interesting (and useful). I don't read print books much anymore. The truth is: I spend all day reading text on screens. I just get tired, by the end of the day. But I can see the problem for the generations after me, that were born into a world of touch-screens. I'm all for phone-free schools. It might be the one thing about our present political trajectory that I can get behind.

Brandon Lewis

2025-02-20 02:28:47 +0000 UTC

Good video, I think you should post it. I'm assuming you're ahead of me on this but just in case, you really should censor that person's username on bluesky and maybe obscure the context in the screenshot. You don't wanna send random haters their way. A couple random thoughts that aren't feedback: Youtube used to have a feature called collections where you could group some subscriptions into their own little sub feed. I used it a lot. It was great for when you were interested in a particular category of your sub feed. It's kind of the polar opposite way to experience youtube to the full algorithm experience that seems to be more popular. Anyway one day it started throwing error messages and then the next day it was gone (that's my recollection at least). I think basically no one was using it, they happened to break it through some unrelated change, and they decided to kill it rather than fix it. Also I've been thinking about LLMs and their pretend thinking. Basically I think of an LLM as a computerised version of only the language processing part of a human brain. We have never encountered something that can speak but isn't intelligent and so we can't tell that the intelligence isn't there when it is writing coherent sentences. It has this confident tone that kind of bypasses our instinct to critically evaluate what we're reading. We also do this with human created text. I think it'd be a good topic for a video and people should be talking about this more.

Ni'Var is not just a planet in the Vulcan system

2025-02-20 02:23:34 +0000 UTC

I echo the majority of these comments - please polish and publish! i'm sure the response from the greater public will be...interesting...but you make some great points and you really made me think. And that's saying a lot! Thanks for doing this and look forward to seeing more from you.

David Blaisdell

2025-02-20 02:20:53 +0000 UTC

Please, for the love of goodness, post this video. It needs to be seen and heard.

Miles McLean

2025-02-20 02:20:17 +0000 UTC

And thanks for your defense of us Canadians. It's safe to say we are appalled.

Alex

2025-02-20 02:14:42 +0000 UTC

@Everett Horner You know, funnily enough, in my explorations of running local LLMs, I came across an interesting message from someone who was also looking to do the same and was interested primarily in the creative writing side of things (most people who talk about this tech online are interested in it for coding purposes, so my ears pricked up when I saw this person's post). They were using LLMs as writing editors for their stories. I found that incredibly interesting because I realised that these LLMs could be used to open up creative writing to people who might otherwise not be able to give it a try. Years ago, I tried writing a book myself but I realised that the further into it I got, the harder it was for me to keep track of things and I really needed an editor or at least some kind of writing software better than Pages to keep things organised. If I'd had an LLM back then, maybe I would have got further down the road. You could use it to make recommendations on pacing, style, bouncing ideas back and forth as if you have a real editor but without having to pay someone to do it (or break your introvert boundaries by reaching out to a real human). You don't have to actually use anything it says though, it's just about suggestions just like how Word likes to suggest grammar changes. For me, the main interest would be in remembering stuff that I'd written before. One test I did with a particular local model (one that is designed for being able to read in and understand big long text files) was that I loaded in a novel I had in txt file format (I have a few of these kicking around from the early e-reader days). It took a while to get it all loaded in but once it had analysed it all, it could answer questions about the entire book. "How many times was a phaser fired" and then it listed all the times where it thought this had happened. "Did this character and this other character ever interact" and it would spit out when and even when they might have done but it wasn't written, i.e. when characters were in the same room. It could even summarise the whole book for me, not that that's particularly helpful for writing, but it was still impressive that it could do it. Now doing any of this stuff can be done with manual text searches but it is more cumbersome than just having 'someone' that you can just ask questions to. It's like having a super-fan on hand that already knows everything you've written. That's the kind of technology that, in my opinion, is only likely to enable more writers from being able to express themselves, which I think is pretty cool!

Phil

2025-02-20 02:14:06 +0000 UTC

Yes please publish this (or a version of this). You’ve crystallized a problem I’ve seen but been unable to describe. Reflecting on your video, I realize that I’ve unconsciously sought out places where I can choose my own content. The example that comes to mind is email: I subscribe to newsletters from sources I find interesting or trust. The end up in one feed that I can finish, unlike a forever scrolling algorithm feed.

Adam Iaizzi

2025-02-20 02:13:56 +0000 UTC

Oh, nice. I will check this out!

Brandon Lewis

2025-02-20 02:10:31 +0000 UTC

Additionally, In real life we're not privileged to the full details of every conversation and can join in or drop out whenever (within societal norms), why not have the same principals when it comes to online conversations?

Rob Maehl

2025-02-20 02:09:38 +0000 UTC

I use the subscriptions feed but when YouTube launches, it opens by default on the Home page, and often puts new videos from my subscriptions there. Maybe that's why?

Alex

2025-02-20 02:07:50 +0000 UTC

There is a newer, related feature called the "queue". I have not used it. I cannot speak for how it behaves.

Brandon Lewis

2025-02-20 02:07:48 +0000 UTC

This is really good. I hope you do release it out into the wild because I want to point to it and tell people that this is the way.

Ernie Smith

2025-02-20 02:06:38 +0000 UTC

There's a caveat to what I wrote above: You must not let the the playback move past the end of the play list, or algorithmic auto-play takes over. In particular: do not fall asleep. It's very telling that playback doesn't simply end when the playlist ends. It used to. I might suggest keeping a 10 hr video of train sounds or ocean waves permanently pinned at the end of the playlist as a "bumper". But as long as you're playing in the middle of a playlist that you have curated, you are in control of what you watch, and in what order.

Brandon Lewis

2025-02-20 02:06:35 +0000 UTC

100%. Actually you have even more control over youtube, it's called "Watch Later". I have a blanket rule: only watch youtube from the watch later list. Any time I get a link, I put in the list. Any time I see something shiny, I put it in the list too. I then pick and choose what I feel like watching, when I decide it's time to watch youtube. This prevents my attention from getting hi-jacked when well-intentioned people send me links.

Brandon Lewis

2025-02-20 02:00:13 +0000 UTC

I would say release the video. I watched the whole thing at 1x speed, and paid attention. Every time you speak the truth, I gain more respect for you. Some of these things really need to be said, and I respect that you're saying them. And you have a great reach. I guess I should fess up and say that we might differ a bit on generative AI. I totally respect your viewpoint, and I think mine is a bit nuanced (and available on request). I do use LLMs, with consideration and care. But I'm totally against putting unreviewed slop on the internet, using AI without a human in the loop or letting it make decisions, and I really dislike that the big models are under the control of big corporations.

Kevin Mitchell

2025-02-20 01:58:33 +0000 UTC

While you're not wrong. Is there some reason why I can't filter my own attention based on what I am interested in that day. Not every day I'm interested in X, Y, or Z. Maybe I save it for later, maybe I just don't find it interesting enough to engage at all, or maybe its something I already know. Who cares if I'm 100% on track with everything unless it's some sort of super serious discussion. I don't NEED to follow my friends/interests/topics obsessively, casually is just fine. Sure there'll be a point in which the content will be too much but with non-algorithmic content comes a lot of content I may not even be interested in.

Rob Maehl

2025-02-20 01:55:27 +0000 UTC

re: Bluesky, I created a list called "Key Follows" and added the accounts that I really want to keep up with and add that as a custom feed on my home page. I also do that with the communities that I'm a part of and a list of the podcast announcer bots that I've set up. I will sometimes scan the main Following feed to check on things or, if it's an account that I just want to check on from time to time, I just search for them. Is it the most optimal way to use Bluesky? Probably not, but it's also not my primary socials (Mastodon is and I'm not good at keeping up with that either).

Linh Pham

2025-02-20 01:53:46 +0000 UTC

As a Canadian that doesn't use social media and ONLY uses the YouTube subscription tab, I approve this message 🤣.

Retro Sean

2025-02-20 01:51:01 +0000 UTC

Thanks for such an in-depth and thoughtful reply. I struggle with the writing aid piece as well. I do use it occasionally to clear writers block, but I often edit to the point of my final product not resembling the GPT output in any obvious way. However, I worry that for folks who weren’t forced to learn to write without it, they won’t be able to effectively complete the critical editing stage (or won’t be bothered to) and then I think Alec’s two-cent worry becomes reality.

Everett Horner

2025-02-20 01:49:46 +0000 UTC

100% support this, and its sharing with the wider web. I've felt oppressed by similar thoughts for a while now, and this was articulated better than I ever could have. Comments sections are a dumpster fire and seem only designed to cause argument and upset, content seems largely just a restyled version of infomercials and influence peddling, and forming menaingful relationships and conversation seems harder than ever. I've ditched all big social media and only interact with small groups on niche forums and patreon groups like this, and its vastly improved the experience, but Ive noticed the trends in the way my friends think in dualities and talk about articles about nothing. Extremely disturbing that children are growing up in this with no context of how the internet was before as reference.

Uhm Mu

2025-02-20 01:49:41 +0000 UTC

Edit: It seems replies on Patreon don't get formatted very well, but this was in response to Alec's message, not just me replying to my own long ramble with another one!! :) I do agree with you to an extent but only really for creative writing and expression. I'd never advocate to using LLMs for communicating with people under normal social circumstances; casual emails, discussions online, sharing ideas etc. But there's a significant use-case for it in business communications where, depending on the field, you often need writing to be 'formal' and concise. First we had type-writers where you had to think of what you wanted to say before typing it down because you couldn't edit it. Then we had digital typewriters that let you edit things a little bit as you went. Then you had word processors that could correct your spelling. Then word processors could check for grammar mistakes. And now 'AI' can check your writing for the necessary style. Now all of those advancements could certainly be argued to have reduced the quality of the average person's writing ability without those aids, but they each also bring a certain about of equity to people; you no longer have to have perfect typing skills to work in an office where a lot of writing is required. Someone that struggles with spelling, dyslexia or for whom English isn't their first language, can now 'keep up' with everyone else. One could also argue that this type of equity has also increased the number of creative writers out there as many more books get published now than did 30 years ago; these tools make it easier for everyone to write. On balance, I don't think using LLMs will be a net negative on writing as a whole. There will be more homogeneity in business writing for sure, but businesses have been trying to do that for years anyway. What I do think is that there will be some job losses. Just like we no longer really have secretaries since 'anyone' can use a computer, there will be a fewer proportion of assistant type jobs in businesses, less of a need for pr/legal departments to check over business communications before they get sent out and fewer copywriters. Job losses are unfortunately the way of the world with any new technology but in the long term, that's not usually considered a net negative. And I think the benefits to people who are not as literally gifted, particularly people for whom English is not their first language, are easy to miss. We'll see how the cookie crumbles though.

Phil

2025-02-20 01:48:20 +0000 UTC

I don't think the problems with following too many people really landed on you. I'll try here, though: You only have so much attention. If you're following everything that even remotely interests you, then your attention will have to be filtered through an algorithm as a matter of logistics. Otherwise you'd see hundreds of posts that were made in the last 5 minutes. The end-result of having an algorithmic filter which randomizes the day's activity and shows you only some of the accounts you're followings is that you're going to lose track of people and things through no fault of your own. I think it's better to realize on your own that you're following so many people that you're in danger of losing track and to make the choice yourself about who and what you de-prioritize or even abandon.

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 01:32:46 +0000 UTC

You should definitely publish this. You make very good points and a lot of them are ones I share. You are not off your rocker, you are decidedly very much on it.

Avery G

2025-02-20 01:31:52 +0000 UTC

Beware the echo chamber of your Patreon supporters. We are already likely to agree with you. You have an intelligent point of view and experience to back it up. Also if it shows people dropping off early it might be me, because I have to keep pausing to parent.

Alex

2025-02-20 01:29:43 +0000 UTC

I am in full agreement with pretty much all of this. I have seen too many people using chatGPT outputs as "proof" of stuff and it's very unsettling. I'll give you an extra $0.02 though - I'm even unsettled by using it as a writing aid, to be honest. Because the more people who do that, the more our writing will become the same. It feels too woo to say this but it really does feel that reality would be close to admitting we're turning into machines.

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 01:27:41 +0000 UTC

Agreed! :D

NatTheCat

2025-02-20 01:25:16 +0000 UTC

All fair points. A video can only be so long and I respect your hesitance about the addiction topic. Perhaps we've inoculated ourselves somewhat to old-school advertisements and new, influencer-based advertising is a problem because it takes a new form.

Tyler Compton

2025-02-20 01:25:03 +0000 UTC

If even a few people stop and reevaluate their interaction with media, it'll have been a success.

Falldog

2025-02-20 01:24:37 +0000 UTC

I found his channel looking for Jimmy Fontanez's "Floaters" - his end-credits music.

Crash Cash

2025-02-20 01:23:58 +0000 UTC

And it's funny, because because I usually hate watching videos, because I can read much faster.

Crash Cash

2025-02-20 01:21:05 +0000 UTC

I'd say this should be a main channel video for sure. You probably should crop out the usernames from posts you feature as screenshots. Beyond that, I think this hits on a lot of good topics. I would like to see a lot more interest in controlling your own online consumption. Podcasts are an interesting technology because they are built on RSS feeds, so they're more resilient against the platform/walled garden effect. Similar effects exist with activitypub/Mastodon, and probably bluesky. I wonder if we could have a world where people subscribe to social and news feeds on their own clients and dont (entirely) depend on platforms. Discovery via algorithm is cool and still a good idea (nuance, like you said). Just in moderation and with an understanding of your agency in your own consumption

Stephen

2025-02-20 01:20:08 +0000 UTC

FYI, as a motorcyclist, there's an app called "calimoto" that picks the most "interesting" route instead of the fastest. I haven't used it since it went account-only. I also regularly spend an hour in Google Maps figuring out the route I want.

Crash Cash

2025-02-20 01:17:05 +0000 UTC

I wholeheartedly agree with your point about people outsourcing their thought process. I think the anecdotes about lawyers being sanctioned for submitting documents with AI hallucinated case citations is strong support for the point that might prove useful to you. Here are people facing consequences for outsourcing their thought process (which happens to be the work product they sell) to unaccountable services.

Routing Wonk

2025-02-20 01:14:30 +0000 UTC

Yes, do it! It's very important, and it's very well done, so go for it. It may sound crotchety to some, but you are right on the money here. We're on a bad path with being spoon opinions, and not learning or forgetting critical thinking is going to get worse if we don't do something about it. I think this is really well thought out, and we need more of this kind of stuff if we want to start solving this problem.

Gary D

2025-02-20 01:13:59 +0000 UTC

He didn't use that term, no -- but he covered a LOT of the same things you did in this video, including the critical importance of manual curation of feeds and how awful the outcome of algorithms doing that for us is! pluralistic.net is his site, should be near the top as of the time I'm commenting.

Phia Westfall

2025-02-20 01:13:52 +0000 UTC

Did he call it that? I'll admit I didn't look up whether anyone had given a name for this. Actually until the last minute I was going with "algorithmic dependency" but I wasn't comfortable with the connotations of that word. Edit: the irony of me asking you that question is not lost on me

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 01:10:42 +0000 UTC

I just finished the whole video and I do think it's good. I have some thoughts on a couple of the topics. Sorry in advance for the long message but I'm feeling long-format today! Algorithms have done so much harm to society, particularly in splitting it up into factions. This has been going on for generations in the media for the simple reason that it's easier to produce content and serve appropriate advertising for a certain target audience. In the early days of television, you had two or three channels and that was it and they had to target for everyone. With cable and satellite tv, you could have oodles of channels and they quickly worked out that having a 'right wing' channel and a 'left wing' channel made it much easier to create media for each target audience and get advertisers in that liked each of those target audiences. With the modern internet we have today, it's the same tactics but on a far larger scale; every possible niche can be targeted and moulded to be either for or against something. There is no middle ground anymore. You see this both in the way people talk about entertainment media that they like and also in politics - people either love something, or hate it. Now while I've been harping on about the damage of these algorithms for a while, the other thing you touched on in your video was the impact of 'AI'. I've spent a fair bit of time working with LLMs lately (the ChatGPT style AIs that you mean). While I've been aware of them for a couple of years now and have thought they're cool, I've barely used them. Because like you, I like to work things out for myself and I've never found an obvious use case for them in my line of work. My wife however, heavily uses ChatGPT and has done ever since I first introduced her to it two years ago. While she does occasionally ask it for looking things up, she mainly uses it for what its actual purpose is; creating human like text. She'll use it to draft action plans, job adverts, help write emails and messages etc and also uses it to do some basic calculations; calculate pay rates etc. It's almost all text based stuff and it is unbelievable good at this. She obviously reads through everything it spouts out and as it's only doing stuff she asks it to and in areas that she knows well herself, there is no risk of her relying on a hallucination. It's basically like having a writing assistant. It saves her so much time. It's lately turned out that several people in our office (my wife and I run a business) use it for similar purposes; improving writing. This is especially true for staff for whom English is not their native language (also, incidentally, these LLMs are incredibly good at translating). I've spent the last three weeks working on reusing an old Mac Studio I have to host our own local LLM so that our staff can use it without risk of any company data getting out. And honestly, it's amazing technology and is clearly going to change the world. However, that being said. There is a clear dark side. I've written that above to show that I'm not naive when it comes to these forms of 'AI'. I have a decent understanding of them, their weaknesses, how they work in practice and how they are amazing and good in many areas. Things go wrong when people use them for things they don't understand and are not able to fact check easily. On the local LLM I have set up, I literally have a disclaimer at the top saying that language models are often confidently wrong, don't trust them and always check that what they say or write makes sense. Now I know I've gone on for a bit here but I wanted to tell you about something that happened to me today, coincidentally just before I watched this video. It's odd because it covers all the aspects of your video; social media algorithms, not researching stuff properly and AI chatbots. A girl I went to school with (woman now, we both recently turned 40) posted a few reels on instagram sharing an anti-vaxxer talking about how covid vaccines give a form of aids. Yes, really. Anyway, she'd been fed this idiot's tweets in her algorithm and reposted them because she thought it was so important. The original poster talked about how this research paper talked about t-cells being corrupted and it was a form of aids and the research was from a top respected institution and even linked the pre-print research paper. This girl reposted these tweets on instagram (yeah, social media to social media, it's the weird world we live in) and then posted a screenshot of ChatGPT summarising the article. To her credit, she'd at least 'tried' to research the article by shoving it into ChatGPT. And ChatGPT did its thing; it summarised the article and its results. It was correct in its assessment (nothing to do with anything the original poster was going on about; just talking about post-vaccination side effects). So she posted this as proof. She's posted other things lately which suggests that she's a strong anti-vaxxer and thinks the vaccines killed millions of people. She also posted a link to the study itself. Now, I was skeptical. So I clicked the study and checked it out. The abstract literally starts with "COVID-19 vaccines have prevented millions of COVID-19 deaths. Yet, a small fraction of the population reports a chronic debilitating condition after COVID-19 vaccination, often referred to as post- vaccination syndrome (PVS)." The rest of the abstract goes on to explain that it was a study of people who suffer from post-vaccination syndrome. Not everyone that was vaccinated, just a study on the very small number of people that did have side effects. And from what I can tell, it's decent and respectable research. My point is; at no point did she try to actually read the article herself and if she had she would have seen that the very first words in are a statement that the vaccines she hates and is trying to argue against saved millions of lives. The ChatGPT summary she posted just talked about the proportion of side effects found in the sample, which was all only people who have documented side effects. It never said it was for everyone that was vaccinated. So this girl got shoved some garbage information from a garbage source due to an algorithm with just enough medical words and a fancy looking link to convince her that it was legit, then she got an AI to read the article for her and it did it's best but she misunderstood what it said to her and completely missed that it disproved everything the original poster said. I don't know, it's a sad world we're moving into. Algorithms have been rotting people's brains and dividing us into factions for years and now AI is up next. And one thing I've learned from setting up local models is how easy it is to tune AI to have a particular point of view. We might consider things like ChatGPT to be uncensored but just wait until bad actors start to manipulate the output from these models. It would be trivial for the owners of such a model to tune one to be anti-vax or anti-abortion and convincingly so. If you're handing over your ability to think to a computer, you really need to know what the intentions are of the people who taught that computer how to think.

Phil

2025-02-20 01:10:13 +0000 UTC

It's a tad bit 'all over the map' but does make a solid point or two. I realize I am "old school" in my thinking. I don't need (don't allow) my phone or desktop computer (or "the cloud") to decide how to organize my files -- I have a folder structure I've been using for over 25 years which puts everything in a place I know I can find it. Documents go in the Documents folder, with sub-folders for related topics, photos go in Pictures, with sub-folders for specific events or categories, music is in the Music folder, with sub-folders by artist and album. Back when I was a Mac OS user and Apple started adding all the Spotlight search and other things which were sold on their ability to "find anything anywhere" I shrugged and wondered why on Earth I would ever need such a thing. If I need to find a PDF of a product manual for something I own, I know exactly what folder to look in. As for following hundreds or thousands of people -- yegads! I might have three dozen creators I subscribe to (yes, subscribe :-)) on Youtube. That's it. Like I said, old school, and damn proud of it.

Don Eitner

2025-02-20 01:09:55 +0000 UTC

I agree somewhat but not entirely. I removed this joke (where it fit in kind of evaporated) but I was taught how to use Advanced Search in high school. There was a time where everyone had internet access and, at least in my neck of the woods, public schools were engaging with how to use it responsibly. Maybe I'm one of few who actually retained those lessons, but we need more people willing to teach those lessons outside school. I'm choosing to be one of them :)

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 01:09:48 +0000 UTC

Unfortunately, I think the majority of people just want to believe that the steak is juicy and delicious. Over all, algorithms are neutral elements. They can produce great things... I wouldn't be here without that algorithm and the same algorithm allows you to contribute back to your community. But they become a crutch for many, the same way various forms of automation form dependencies. And then there's who use algorithms to further their own agenda/wallet. A long winded way for a cynic to say it's a people problem at its core.

Falldog

2025-02-20 01:09:28 +0000 UTC

Again with the caveat that I'm a public person so my experience is Not Normal, the culture of Mastodon is so anti-corporate that it pretty much drove me off the platform. Not a lot of folks there will tolerate anyone using Google for anything, and large YouTubers are very much included in that. In addition to a hostile culture, the platform has some severe technical issues which average users won't notice but when you've got 30,000 followers become a major issue. I tried to express that "folks, if you want Mastodon to be popular, you're going to have to figure out how to make it work for popular accounts" but it repeatedly fell on deaf ears. Including in a one-on-one I had with a VIP. I haven't completely given it up but I'm close.

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 01:06:08 +0000 UTC

That's really what worries me the most. I've heard how pervasive this is becoming in schools and, while I understand teachers and administrators have to in some ways react to it as if it is an inevitability, it only feels like that because we're not asking what the consequences will be yet.

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 01:01:59 +0000 UTC

I agree with this being made into a main-channel video. Unfortunately some of the same people who are stuck in this algorithmic complacency loop may not take very kindly to being called out, but I can only hope some of those people stick around, listen, and maybe even change. The topic being discussed is very much a real thing that deserves to be talked about, whether people want to talk about it or not.

NatTheCat

2025-02-20 01:00:35 +0000 UTC

If it weren't for my feelings for Twitter I would have mentioned this (when I was using Twitter I also stuck only to this feed and so a lot of the "twitter sucks" discourse didn't really register as valid. but now too many people are using the algo feed and it makes it too miserable to be there as a public person at all. given all that I didn't bother bring it up.)

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 00:57:57 +0000 UTC

Shortly after watching this I saw a Tiktok where a professor was lamenting that his students literally do not read anymore. As in, books and other written material in their spare time. The comments were filled with people saying "well why should I read when I can watch a video about it." "Reading is obsolete in this age" "why spend 10 minutes imagining a scene when I can just instantly see a picture" etc. It sure seemed to highlight the sentiment that people are getting too comfortable offloading their thinking to the point of it being detrimental.

Kevin Mirsky

2025-02-20 00:55:40 +0000 UTC

I like this idea. I'll have to see whether it makes sense pacing-wise (I'd really rather not re-shoot but it feels like it might be doable just in editing) but I agree it might be better to move it up.

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 00:55:30 +0000 UTC

I think your message is clear and people need to hear it. I can't think of much I would remove. It's all reasonable, well-measured, and important to getting the point across. Even though my first thought was, "People aren't going to watch a 40 minute video", I found the time flying by because it was so engaging and thought-provoking. You've said out loud what has been bubbling in the back of my brain for a long time, and in doing so, made it crystal clear to me that this is what I was worrying about. Tell your story; everyone needs to hear it.

James Cooper

2025-02-20 00:53:31 +0000 UTC

Go go go!

squix

2025-02-20 00:52:45 +0000 UTC

Thanks for your comment, Tyler. I want to say that I'm dancing around addiction because that's something I'm comfortable diagnosing. People would probably understand that my discussion is more casual than clinical, but even in that frame calling it out as an addiction felt dicey to me. To your other points - the thing about influencers was actually to get more people to understand that that is advertising. I didn't mean to imply that I thought it was new, but I am on a bit of a "don't look for reasons to be unhappy" kick and wanted to say that in my own way. And the thing about old-school curation - it's just not something I felt needed an explicit mention. Part of what made this script difficult for me is that a lot of these things are very tangled together and at a certain point I needed to leave that up to viewers to figure out for themselves.

Technology Connections

2025-02-20 00:52:11 +0000 UTC

I would blur out the names/handles (maybe the profile pics too) of the other users you are including screenshots of. Especially the one you are critiquing for their response to your NEVI post.

Bob daBlue

2025-02-20 00:51:27 +0000 UTC

SEND IT. I work in IT for a program at a large defense contractor and it's amazing how many people here trust ChatGPT, how many are antivaxxers, how many believe plane contrails are weather control, and how many can't use bookmarks. I despair for humanity. I had a long rant about the YT "new to you" tab, but I deleted it because it was preaching to the choir. And oh my god... the "U R WORNG!" responses. Or asking "how do I do x?" and getting "you're an idiot, why would you ever want to do x? that's a complete waste of time" The best thing about USENET was killfiles. You could drop assholes in it and never see their posts again. As a friend said, forget the "Friend" feature... I want a "Shitlist" feature.

Crash Cash

2025-02-20 00:50:43 +0000 UTC

Another tool for self-directed exploration: https://feedly.com Algorithm blindness made me think of the beginning og "The Atopia Chronicles" by Mather P.S. Not only is annexing Canada ridiculous, why would a whole nation be one state? Surely each province would be its own state. That to me shows just how little people are actually thinking.

Jerrad Pierce

2025-02-20 00:47:44 +0000 UTC

Hey! I'm an almost nobody! Yes, I feel you should publish this.

William Wallace

2025-02-20 00:41:01 +0000 UTC

I'd say post it when you're done editing. Was fun to watch the clock and lava lamps jump. I very much agree with your points!

Alex Flinner

2025-02-20 00:40:45 +0000 UTC

Wasn't sure what to expect, but wow, there's a lot to thing about here. It's absolutely worth a post, society needs this

Jesse Fullington

2025-02-20 00:39:47 +0000 UTC

I generally share your concerns here and appreciate how heartfelt this video is. Here's some of my thoughts: - Algorithmic feeds are designed to be addictive. I think you were gesturing to this when you mentioned watch time, but it's an important point. I don't blame individuals for getting sucked into them. It's by design. - I didn't find the point about products as convincing, because we've been dealing with it for as long as advertising has been shoved in our faces. I don't think that one is a new problem, but it is a problem. - In some ways, the early Internet you describe was a break from the historic norm. Cable TV, radio, and newspaper were all curated information streams that decide for you what's important. The curation has come back, but the fact that it's algorithmic makes it worse. It creates an information game with crappy incentives that people and news organizations have to play, and tech companies refuse to be held accountable because they aren't literally hand picking what goes to the front page.

Tyler Compton

2025-02-20 00:39:23 +0000 UTC

Post it, it's a great video. And a needed topic

Alxa

2025-02-20 00:39:00 +0000 UTC

Just finished. Might be one of your best so far. Hope this explodes. A lot of people need to see it

Gradyn Wursten

2025-02-20 00:35:36 +0000 UTC

I was also shocked about the subscription feed percentage, but the more I think about it, it makes sense. I always start my YouTube sessions on my subscriptions page, I’ll click on and give my attention to the new videos that look interesting from channels I follow, but at some point I’ll usually let it autoplay a next recommended video, and then another, and another, etc. I’ll leave YouTube on as pleasant background noise, and as a focusing distraction when doing boring tasks that don’t require my undivided attention. As long as it’s feeding me videos I like, I’ll let it autoplay until I have to turn it off to focus on something that needs my whole attention. Almost all of the autoplay videos are from creators I follow and watch often, and are very often videos I’ve already seen before. So when a new Technology Connections video is released, the first time I watch it will be because it was on my subscriptions feed and I purposely clicked on it. That same video will then show up as an autoplayed suggestion that I passively consume several more times over the next few months. So only 1 of my views will come from the subscriptions page, but I might see it 5-10 more times, because YouTube fed it to me, and I left it on. I don’t know how common that kind of video consumption pattern is, but I can’t be the only person who does that. That 3% statistic may be deceptive.

Dawn Anthes

2025-02-20 00:33:03 +0000 UTC

I like the video a lot, and I largely agree with all your points. I think you should publish it. Also, as a Canadian 🇨🇦 thank you for saying that bit.

Andrew Dunham

2025-02-20 00:32:50 +0000 UTC

As a fellow old guy shouting at the sky I say send it! The overreliance on "the algorithm" and lack of quality critical thinking is leading (has led) to the downfall of society. I'm not sure what good will come from it, but you have a platform and I love your willingness to recognize the responsibility you have to use it.

Matt Bolick

2025-02-20 00:30:43 +0000 UTC

I really like the video I would suggest bringing The Google maps analogy closer to the beginning because it makes a lot of sense and is easy to understand. I would hate for people not to see it 30 minutes in. I also think someone with a platform has to say the uncomfortable thing and if a few people leave so be it. If you don't speak up then people assume you are complacent with the current world and then they should be too. Like you said, a lot of us look to influencers to gauge how we should react to something.

Dr Claw

2025-02-20 00:30:07 +0000 UTC

I can’t wait for you to release it, this is one that I’d share with my extended family! Not that your pinball videos aren’t worth a share, but this is much more relevant.

Raymond

2025-02-20 00:30:06 +0000 UTC

I'm of two minds here. I do think overall that we do need to be mindful but I use socials as entertainment after a long day of thinking. I don't want to make too many decisions and so the home feed of Youtube is perfect for that. I also follow many people on Bluesky and jumping periodically to see what's going on is good too. (I don't comment, mostly, just read, so I'm not one of the folks you highlighted.) It reminds me of the old days of watching TV all night and just watching what was on rather than picking shows. Just as a release. And I've had the opposite experience with google maps. We've discovered amazing back road routes around our province (Ontario) by letting google tell us where to go. We never would have picked the byzantine routes it has led us on. But, we do pay attention to where it's sending us so as to not drive into a lake or something. ;) Having said all that, I am terrified about how AI might be used in the near future that could ruin all our lives.

John Deweerd

2025-02-20 00:25:47 +0000 UTC

Very interesting. I have had similar thoughts and fears but had trouble putting them into words (and also had no one to talk to about them). It is heartening to find that there are other people who are worried about the same things - now if only we could do something about it... It is a bit funny that I found your channel all those years ago through YT's recommendations, though. Like rain on your wedding day...

Nick Loh

2025-02-20 00:25:47 +0000 UTC

Absolutely release this. It's incredibly well-reasoned and well-stated in good faith. I was going to make a joke about the video helping to "reinforce the 'connections' in 'Technology Connections'," but you beat me to it towards the end of the video. Thank you for taking the time to think through this so deeply and sincerely.

Paganomation

2025-02-20 00:25:07 +0000 UTC

A Canada guy says Publish it. Algorithms in social media are never discussed in an in-depth, thoughtful manner. Thanks for tackling this issue.

Bob Vesely

2025-02-20 00:23:03 +0000 UTC

I've been a member of your channel for a number of years. I've enjoyed every one of your videos that I have watched. Many of them gave me new ideas or at least made me think about something in ways I had not done so before. You ask if I think you should post this video. I think this is one of the most thought provoking video you have done. It's made me think about how I personally use the internet as well as provide a prospective that I've not really though about before. I very much think you should post this video. But I also think that you'll hear from a lot of people that make feel threatened about what you say. And I hope the noise that you get from these people doesn't dampen your enthusiasm. Please do keep throwing out your net for new ideas about things to talk about. For me, your videos are very much appreciated. That's why I've been a patron for so long.

Robert McCullough

2025-02-20 00:21:09 +0000 UTC

There was something oddly satisfying about the opening research exercise; and the overall message is important to put into words.

Valerie.Z

2025-02-20 00:20:17 +0000 UTC

With the disclaimer that I am a very old man: I have some sympathy for the "walled gardens" of the Old Times. AOL, Compuserve, and the others offered a valuable service, which they had to do because there basically wasn't much else. The web, if it even existed at the time, was tiny, hard to navigate, and search engines were absurdly primitive. We used to connect to things that were called "on-line databases", the meaning of which has almost completely changed today. Back then, that meant a special kind of bulletin board you dialed directly from your computer, and often paid an extortionate per-minute fee to use. (I often think that some of the databases that existed back then, though specialized, were more useful than anything on the web today.) When AOL and the others came along, you just had to pay one bill, and they would curate a ton of useful stuff for you, and that was so much better than attempting to do it yourself. I understand that they had to die, and their resistance of the open internet lasted for too long, but, I feel like our collective hate of them today is revisionist history. They had a place.

David Glover-Aoki

2025-02-20 00:18:15 +0000 UTC

Maybe I'm the last one using it, but X/Twitter has a "following" feed that completely bypasses the recommendation algorithm.

Markus Strobl

2025-02-20 00:18:01 +0000 UTC

I hang out on the subscriptions tab most of the time, so I guess I'm part of the 3%. I decided to wait until the end of the video to comment, but then seconds later you addressed my "but sometimes..." because I do occasionally see what the algorithm has to suggest. I have rewatched some of your old videos from there because your dorky puns are timeless. And YouTube does actually do a somewhat decent job of suggesting new things. I like the video, and I actually think it's on brand. In my AI-generated opinion, you should continue with it but also turn it into a foodie review.

John Lavallée

2025-02-20 00:13:54 +0000 UTC

I'm 57. Been using the internet manually since the very beginning. Still do. I won't use the socials because I recognized eary on that they are manipulative. You get it. But most won't or don't even want to. Like I learned in the movie War Games. The only way to win, is to not play. Ps. It's too late. The dark future we are headed for is inevitable.

BSJ

2025-02-20 00:13:53 +0000 UTC

Do it. I appreciate what you've said here.

Philip Thoman

2025-02-20 00:13:50 +0000 UTC

You absolutely speak right from my soul here. So, yes, do publish it. Btw I couldn't live without the subscription page of YT, it's so disheartening to hear so few of us are using this feature.

Christoph Grabo

2025-02-20 00:11:10 +0000 UTC

1. I think you should finish the video and post it. This topic needs a chorus of voices. Why not be one of them? 2. I love YouTube's subscription feed. I had no idea I was such a rarity. 3. This topic connects really well to an article I published on my own website. https://thestrategicweb.com/ai-chatbots-are-bullshit-academically-speaking-should-we-care/ ( Apologies for the apparent self promo. But at least it's human curated. 🤷)

Scott Hutcheson

2025-02-20 00:09:47 +0000 UTC

I honestly couldn't agree more. I will say that algorithms don't have to be a bad thing if used correctly but they are the majority of the time. As a tangent, I also believe that when it comes to what's going on in the world, people are too informed these days. It's why I have left all social media (except YouTube) and avoid the news like the plague. My algorithm is that if something is important enough that I need to know about it, it'll get to me through an actual person. So my YouTube algorithm is all pet videos and just funny clips. I've never been happier. Great video and I think it's worth publishing. I'll leave main vs second channel up to you.

William Leonard

2025-02-20 00:09:17 +0000 UTC

I think you handled this topic in a very approachable way, which I imagine is what you're talking about when you say we're not "the target audience." A video I had a seen a while back (unfortunately I can't remember who the creator was) had a throw away line about how the consumption of content isn't usually seen as a "moral decision" and it really stuck with me as I didn't have an answer to that. You should publish this video because it provides a really useful starting point to understand the slurry of problems that algorithmic complacency is at the heart of. I'm tempted to say that, in order to make it more palatable for a wider audience, you shorten it a bit because 40-ish minute videos seem intimidating, but: 1) there's no particular part I feel needs to be cut, 2) I don't know if that actually makes a difference for how many people fully watch the video, and 3) that feels sort of like playing into the very problem you were just describing? Good video

yourbadvibes

2025-02-20 00:08:14 +0000 UTC

Traffic from the YouTube Subscription feed to your videos is that low? I would have never guessed that. I use the Subscription feed almost exclusively. I do look at some of the Recommended videos alongside videos from creators I subscribe to. It’s how I often find new creators. I would release this as a second channel video.

Michael Dragone

2025-02-20 00:07:16 +0000 UTC

Thank you, very well put. I do disagree about the paper maps, but other than that I'm with you :) On a side note, I do some part-time work as a teacher and I find it shocking how even some of my colleagues use these so-called AI tools to do (some of) their work, leading to situations where students use AI tools to solve exercises generated by AI tools, only to have AI tools do the correction afterwards; no human thinking involved anywhere, just a bunch of people pretending to.

flanflan

2025-02-20 00:06:39 +0000 UTC

I got thru about 15 min and can only commend you on the accuracy of your own observation that it's mostly, "Old man yells at cloud."

Jeff

2025-02-20 00:05:49 +0000 UTC

Alec, I think you being upset that people are following so many people on bluesky is a bad statement to make. It's from users exploring more as they are being served less or even not at all. It seems to be a specific byproduct of non-algorithmic content, even before Algorithmic content existed. I know as someone who doesn't really do algorithmic content I'm subscribed to nearly 100 youtube channels, 50 something discord servers, and I used to be in something like 20 IRC servers and 200 channels. We used to visit so many more websites and other content back before everything was algorithmic. If anything this is likely a GOOD thing.

Rob Maehl

2025-02-20 00:05:23 +0000 UTC

As someone who is in the "I want to control my feed" camp, and is fully aware of the subscriptions page: I only ever click over to it when I realize it's been quite a long time since I saw anything from creator A or B... Oh look, lots of new content, but I wasn't clicking on every single video so they "felll off" my feed. (Edit to add: When I first realized this, I tried using the subscriptions page as a primary page, but quickly lost track of less-frequent creators... I really should go through and purge all the less-interesting channels that over-produce, like Formula 1 🤔)

CloudHackIX

2025-02-20 00:04:16 +0000 UTC

As is it could be sent the second channel. Every point is solid and the overall message I think points to a good call to action of encouraging more manual interactions with the information and content we consume

Dani

2025-02-20 00:03:17 +0000 UTC

I like and agree with every thing you said. I do think that some zombies are going to try to be performatively reactionary, but if you can live with that, send it. (Do I get a good scrabble score?)

Yoshi of the Wire

2025-02-20 00:03:02 +0000 UTC

Just curious about why bluesky vs mastodon? I've recently left behind twitter and started messing around with mastodon, and it seems to work well enough for my needs (I just need a chronologically ordered list of posts from people I follow!). I keep hearing about bluesky here and there, but I don't believe I've seen an explanation of why the twitter refugees are flocking there.

Joel Diaz

2025-02-20 00:00:03 +0000 UTC

I really like this video. The message is exactly what I’m trying to get across in the classroom (teaching undergrads the basics of communication and analytical thinking). Students are allowing the machine to do their thinking, and it’s deeply disturbing. It’s not even “thinking” as that implies the capacity for original and creative processes and rational decision making. My colleagues and I are struggling with the very issues you pinpoint in your video. I hope you go “live” with this. I’d love to make it a part of my curriculum.

Chattox

2025-02-20 00:00:01 +0000 UTC

great idea for a video and you are not wrong imo, I only check out my yt subs and glance at the homepage, way too much garbage feel free to tighten it up TANGENT!!! I make my children watch this series every year or so, they don't teach this in any school that I know of Crash Course Navigating Digital Information: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtN07XYqqWSKpPrtNDiCHTzU

DoorToDoorGeek Stephen McLaughlin

2025-02-19 23:59:17 +0000 UTC

I agree with so much of what you are saying, and it's well presented, and will probably go down will with your demographic, which u suspect is largely the kinds of people like you...... Who like to think and know how things work. I'm sure it won't go down so well with 'the algorithm' though! 😂 One point. You mention curated content, and I think it's a human trait to want that. It's been popular with many different media types.... Look at things like reader digest, libraries, editorials, magazines and the like. Sadly, I think our enjoyment of well curated content (like what you so regularly make) has turned into automated 'engagement' harvesting, with so much 'rage bait' etc. Fuck it, release the video! 😁

Ben Kern

2025-02-19 23:54:50 +0000 UTC

In general I like the idea behind this video and agree with you, but it feel kind of rambly once you hit the GPS part and I feel you would lose a lot of people this is targeted at after that. Definitely publish it, but I think it should be trimmed down some.

Eric Emroll

2025-02-19 23:51:35 +0000 UTC

RE The Google Maps rant: is this because you have "fuel efficient routes" turned on? I turned that off on my phone because it was less direct in many cases and really didn't save that much fuel

Vynncent Murphy

2025-02-19 23:49:36 +0000 UTC

This is a great video, but I do wonder about that subscription feed view percentage. I know I personally use it constantly, 3% seems awfully small! But maybe I'm just in the minority of people who hate the drivel in the recommended feed! Also: literally young man yells at Cloud!

Vitreous Humour

2025-02-19 23:47:36 +0000 UTC

The last sentence, "I want to think for myself," is what was going through my mind the whole time I was watching the video. I dislike the generative AI responses search engines give for the most part. I dislike how a startling majority of people cannot problem solve on their own anymore. I dislike, no, HATE how people accept the first answer they come across as the definitive one, or the headline of a story to be automatically true without doing any research or further reading. A growing number of people no longer ask one of life's most important questions: "why?", instead wishing to be "spoon-fed." I think this video is great and entirely needed in these times. If you think that it will not hurt your channel by being rather different, I'd say post it. If you're trepidatious, you could always upload to Technology Connextras, though that would reach a smaller audience.

The Bunnie

2025-02-19 23:47:26 +0000 UTC

Yeah agreed; it's a bit ramble-y, IMO.

Andrew Dunham

2025-02-19 23:46:19 +0000 UTC

I've watched it - I think your main point is well-made. I don't agree on 100% of your points (one minute of drive time can feel substantial to me - though I agree, it's better to make decisions thoughtfully whenever possible), but I think it was extremely well-done, and I think it's worth publishing. Maaaybe trim it down a little? I bet you could lose 5-10 of the nearly 40 minutes and get something a little tighter (I'm sure you know this; "light edit" and all - and to be fair, I watch almost all videos on 1.25x anyway) , but the bones are good. I've always liked your POV, thanks for sharing it.

Jeff Rizzo

2025-02-19 23:45:47 +0000 UTC

Speaking of which I would think that any non-algorithmic social media will just end up like IRC/Discord/Bluesky You end up following/lurking so many users/channels/etc much trying to find conversations / topics interesting to you

Rob Maehl

2025-02-19 23:45:13 +0000 UTC

Havent finished the video yet, but I think the intro needs a little bit of work still. It takes too long to get to the point in my opinion.

Minecraft Chest1

2025-02-19 23:44:44 +0000 UTC

Polish to your level of comfort but fuck yeah send it.

Will Douglas

2025-02-19 23:44:27 +0000 UTC

I say, "release it!" I wholeheartedly agree with your entire rant. I actively avoid the algo-rot everywhere I can; mostly because I'm an engineer and especially because Google's AI results are 👏 the 👏 absolute 👏 worst. I even use YT Subscriptions as my main viewing source and totally agree on YT shorts. haha

TheWebMachine

2025-02-19 23:43:54 +0000 UTC

unclear if you accept a hug, but I would offer one. And thank you for bringing up the topic. OSINTing can be a fun game.

adorfer

2025-02-19 23:42:57 +0000 UTC

Let me play bit of Devil's Advocate here for you. What you're seeing when people say they "don't care" about curating their own algorithmic feeds is not a new phenomenon. The reason is seems like people care less and less about this is a cohort effect. The majority of people who used the internet in the 90s or even 2000s were more highly educated, more curious, "early adopter" types of people who were willing to go through some learning pains to use the tech. Today, more and more of the people online are the types of people who simply weren't online before. These types of people who are happy to have the technology tell them what do see, do, or believe, are the same people who, in the past, would've simply been watching TV endlessly and otherwise being just as helpless and happy to be led around all day long - but they wouldn't have been online. But, for those of us who still want to curate our feeds (and yes, there are just as many of us around these days as an absolute number, just a smaller percentage), the internet provides an incredible power to curate who, what, and how we consume media, information, and social-ish connection. Besides Mastadon and Bluesky, I suggest Substack for long for and interesting content. That said, yes, why not upload this? Put more of yourself out there. At least the AIs can gobble up all this info and maybe it'll make a difference. Good luck mate, and I'm happy to keep supporting your important work.

Max M

2025-02-19 23:40:33 +0000 UTC

A rough draft is better than no content at all! As always, I look forward to watching it when I get home Update: I’m now pissed at Silicon Valley, AI chat bot companies, and Meta

Cooper Schwartz

2025-02-19 23:39:53 +0000 UTC

I'm definitely one of the users who primarily uses the Youtube Subscriptions tab but I was also a user who lurked in 20 something IRC servers in 200+ channels. I'm not old enough to remember it but Algorithmic Social Media feels like the Yellow Journalism of old... although I'm still googling this to learn more about Yellow Journalism to make sure the comparison is applicable. I'm hoping at some point Social Media just get so hyperbolic that people start tuning it out but I don't think this will happen. The video feels very "go touch grass"-y at the end, which isn't a bad take, but we (as a society) all need to touch grass. I fear this video won't reach past the specific niche of people subscribed to the channel.

Rob Maehl

2025-02-19 23:36:22 +0000 UTC

This video is a very good and measured response to the problem we have these days. It’s ok to occasionally let “the algorithm” show you things, if you want, it’s how I found you, but you have to absolutely balance it with self discovery.

John Bradley

2025-02-19 23:30:54 +0000 UTC

Send it. This is an issue I have to deal with in my professional life. I encourage the students I mentor to use their brains and solve problems on their own rather than relying on information just coming to them. A philosophy I take forward from my own schooling days comes from a physics teacher I had: he never told you the answer or held your hand throughout a problem, but he would give you everything you need to figure it out yourself, and to him, he wasn’t “teaching you the material” but helping you to “discover the material”.

John Bradley

2025-02-19 23:29:46 +0000 UTC

My vote is to publish this -- interesting timing, too, as Cory Doctorow's "blogiversary" post today was also about algorithmic complacency.

Phia Westfall

2025-02-19 23:26:29 +0000 UTC

This is great content. But to be fair, you are preaching to the choir in me in a roughly similar age/demo. But the rise of algorithms is incredibly important to discuss.

Chris Pent

2025-02-19 23:23:14 +0000 UTC

Solid. You are doing great things. Keep it up Alec.

Chuck Noonan

2025-02-19 23:18:57 +0000 UTC